ICC T20I Rankings: Evin Lewis, KL Rahul take giant leaps; West Indies narrows gap on India
Openers Evin Lewis and KL Rahul, centurions in the first T20 in the recently concluded series between India and West Indies, made giant leaps in the latest T20 batting rankings released by ICC.
In the team rankings, the West Indies team, reigning world champions in the shortest format, improved by 3 points to clip the margin between them and the Indian team to a solitary point. New Zealand sits pretty at the top, with 132 points to their credit.
Virat Kohli, despite aggregating just 16 runs in a high scoring encounter, retains his place at the top of the T20 batting rankings with a score of 82. He is 17 points clear of the second-placed Aaron Finch. The only other batsman from the T20 series in the top 10 is Chris Gayle, who suffered a one-spot loss and moved to number 9. However, the openers from both sides, KL Rahul and Evin Lewis, took giant strides in the table.
In a record high-scoring encounter in the first T20, KL Rahul scored a 46-ball century, and jumped 67 places to find himself in the 31st spot. His West Indian counterpart, Evin Lewis, who scored a blistering century in the first innings, took a massive leap of 288 points to reach the 51st spot. Marlon Samuels and Johnson Charles are the only other West Indian batsmen in the top-30, placed at the 22nd and 23rd positions respectively.
Rohit Sharma, sitting at the 18th spot with 612 points, is the only other Indian in the top-20. Suresh Raina, who last played for India in the World T20 earlier this year, is placed at 29. Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni are the only other Indian batsmen in the top-50, occupying the 44th and 48th spot respectively.
Here are the overall rankings (as of 30th August 2016)
ICC T20I Rankings for Teams
| Ranking | Team | Rating |
| 1 | New Zealand | 132 |
| 2 | India | 126 |
| 3 | West Indies | 125 |
| 4 | South Africa | 119 |
| 5 | England | 116 |
| 6 | Australia | 110 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 104 |
| 8 | Sri Lanka | 96 |
| 9 | Afghanistan | 78 |
| 10 | Bangladesh | 74 |
ICC T20I Rankings for Batsmen
| Ranking | Batsman | Rating |
| 1 | Virat Kohli (India) | 820 |
| 2 | Aaron Finch (Australia) | 803 |
| 3 | Martin Guptill (New Zealand) | 754 |
| 4 | Francois du Plessis (South Africa) | 741 |
| 5 | Joe Root (England) | 735 |
| 6 | Kane Williamson (New Zealand) | 719 |
| 7 | Alex Hales (England) | 699 |
| 8 | Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan) | 674 |
| 9 | Chris Gayle (West Indies) | 668 |
| 10 | Hamilton Masakadza (Zimbabwe) | 657 |