Colombo: India jumped four places from seventh to third place in the ICC T20 Team rankings on Wednesday. With 116 ranking points, India were behind South Africa (1st) and England (2nd) while West Indies have fallen four places to eighth spot.
Meanwhile, South Africa heads into the Super Eight stage of the ICC World Twenty20 2012 as the number-one ranked team on the Reliance ICC T20 Championship table. England after losing its Group A match to India by 90 runs has slipped to second spot with 124 ratings points.
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Top five batsmen:
1) Brendon McCullum
2) Chris Gayle
3) Shane Watson
4) David Warner
5) Suresh Raina
Top five bowlers:
1) Saeed Ajmal
2) Graeme Swann
3) Ajantha Mendis
4) Johan Botha
5) Shahid Afridi
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In the players T20 rankings, B McCullum with 849points is the highest ranked batsman followed by Chris Gayle and Shane Watson. Suresh Raina is the only Indian batsman in top 10 at fifth spot.
Australia’s Shane Watson has jumped four places to a career-high third position in the latest Reliance ICC T20I Player Rankings for batsmen which were released on Wednesday at the end of the group stage of the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012.
Watson, who won successive Player of the Match awards against Ireland and West Indies, has also garnered his career-best rating of 758.
In addition to his batting exploits (92 runs in two games), Watson has continued to retain seventh position in the Reliance ICC T20I Player Rankings for bowlers and is also the number-one ranked all-rounder in the world.
New Zealand’s wicket-keeper batsman Brendon McCullum has retained his number-one batting spot with Chris Gayle in second place. McCullum’s knock of 123 against Bangladesh, the highest in the history of Twenty20 International cricket to date, has also helped him achieve a career-best rating of 849.
The batsmen from Asia have made the most impressive movements in the batting table ahead of the Super Eight stage which starts in Pallekele on 27 September.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara has broken back into the top 10 and now sits in eighth position (up by three places).
Others to make upward movements are Virat Kohli in 19th (up by 10 places), Rohit Sharma in 26th (up by 12 places), Nasir Jamshed in 32nd (up by 51 places), Shakib Al Hasan in 37th (up by 29 places) and Imran Nazir in 43rd (up by 42 places).
In the Reliance ICC T20Is Player Rankings for bowlers, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka boast three bowlers each inside the top 20 while Pakistan has three bowlers inside the top 10 with Saeed Ajmal sitting on top of the tree, followed by Shahid Afridi in fifth (up by one place) and captain Mohammad Hafeez in ninth (up by two place).
South Africa's Dale Steyn has jumped 10 places to claim 11th position, while Harbhajan Singh, who claimed four for 12 against England, India’s best figures in a Twenty20 International, has broken into the top 20 and is now at 17th place (up five).
Others big movers are Tim Southee in 16th (up by eight places), Irfan Pathan in 23rd (up by eight places), Sunil Narine in 44th (up by 13 places), Brad Hogg in 51st (up by 25 places), Pat Cummins in 54th (up by 18 places) and Jacques Kallis in 65th (up by 22 places).
In the all-rounders' list, Shakib has vaulted four places to fifth while Marlon Samuels in 20th (up by five), James Franklin in 23rd (up by six) and Kevin O’Brien in 28th (up by 10) have also made upward movements.
The player rankings will now be updated at the end of the Super Eight stage on 3 October.
By Indian Sports New Network
