Virat Kohli retains top spot in latest ICC T20 rankings for batsmen
India’s Virat Kohli retained the No 1 ranking for batsmen in the latest ICC rankings for the T20 format which was released after the conclusion of the three-match T20 series between Pakistan and West Indies in the UAE. Despite thrashing their opponents 3-0, Sarfraz Ahmed’s side failed to make any move from the seventh spot but the reigning World T20 champions felt the effect of series whitewash dropping one place to the fourth spot in the team rankings.
With no further T20 series’ scheduled for the remainder of the year, Kohli will rightly remain on top in a format he took by storm during the year with stellar performances in the Asia Cup and the World T20. The 27-year-old kicked off the year with three consecutive half-centuries against Australia in their own backyard and amassed over 1000 runs in the T20 format alone registering just a lone single-digit score in 13 innings at the international level.
He is well ahead of his closest competitors Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell of Australia while the immediate impact of the Pakistan-West Indies series sees Johnson Charles drop three places to the 26th spot while Shoaib Malik gained 10 spots to be the 35th ranked batsmen in the T20 format.
Rohit Sharma is the only other Indian in the Top 20, ranked 18th, while Suresh Raina is ranked 28th followed by KL Rahul who is ranked one place below the left-handed batsman. Afghanistan’s Mohammad Shahzad and Zimbabwe’s Hamilton Masakadza retained their position in the Top 10 showcasing the threat posed by the lower-ranked teams in the shortest format of the game.
ICC T20 rankings for batsmen:
| Ranking | Batsman | Nationality | Rating |
| 1 | Virat Kohli | India | 820 |
| 2 | Aaron Finch | Australia | 771 |
| 3 | Glenn Maxwell | Australia | 763 |
| 4 | Martin Guptill | New Zealand | 754 |
| 5 | Franc du Plessis | South Africa | 741 |
| 6 | Kane Williamson | New Zealand | 719 |
| 7 | Joe Root | England | 708 |
| 8 | Alex Hales | England | 705 |
| 9 | Mohammad Shahzad | Afghanistan | 674 |
| 10 | Hamilton Masakadza | Zimbabwe | 657 |
As mentioned earlier, West Indies saw themselves drop one spot to the fourth spot following their 3-0 series whitewash with South Africa replacing the T20 heavyweights at the third spot. Pakistan earned some valuable points to improve their rating to 111 but not enough to propel them past England and Australia who are in the sixth and fifth spot respectively.
New Zealand remained on top spot with a rating of 132 while India are ranked second with a rating of 126, though MS Dhoni’s side has a much higher points total. It is a stark contrast to the start of the year when India were ranked as low as 8th ahead of the T20 series against Australia in January.
ICC T20 rankings for teams:
| Position | Team | Points | Rating |
| 1 | New Zealand | 2635 | 132 |
| 2 | India | 3284 | 126 |
| 3 | South Africa | 2734 | 119 |
| 4 | West Indies | 2486 | 118 |
| 5 | Australia | 2390 | 114 |
| 6 | England | 2481 | 113 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 3436 | 111 |
| 8 | Sri Lanka | 2630 | 94 |
| 9 | Afghanistan | 1725 | 78 |
| 10 | Bangladesh | 1708 | 74 |