Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina slip in ICC T20 batting rankings

viratkohliDubai: India’s Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina slipped in the batting chart, while England's Alex Hales and Steven Finn, along with West Indies' Sunil Narine, have achieved career-best rankings in the latest Reliance ICC T20I Player Rankings, which were released on Saturday.
 

Kohli slipped two places to be placed eighth, followed by Raina at ninth. Yuvraj Singh was at 14th after a fall of one place while Gautam Gambhir was down at 17th. In the T20 bowling chart, Ravichandran Ashwin, the only Indian in the list, slipped two places to be positioned 18th. In the all-rounder's list, Yuvraj Singh retained the third position with 337 points.


The latest rankings were released at the completion of England's 2-1 series win over host New Zealand on Friday and ICC World Twenty20 2012 champion West Indies' win over Australia in the one-off match.


While Hales has jumped nine places to a career-best fifth in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I batsmen, Sunil Narine has leaped six places to a best-ever third and Steven Finn has moved up 20 places to a career-best sixth in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I bowlers.


Also making an upward movement within the top 10 batters is New Zealand's Martin Guptill, who has moved up five places to join former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene in third place.


New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum continues to head the batting table, with Chris Gayle in second place.


In the bowling rankings, which are led by Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal, England captain Stuart Broad is the other bowler apart from Narine and Finn to make a significant improvement. Broad has jumped 12 places to eighth.


The all-rounders' table is still headed by Australia's Shane Watson, followed by Pakistan's T20I captain Mohammad Hafeez and India's Yuvraj Singh in third position.


West Indies narrows gap with Sri Lanka


ICC World Twenty20 2012 champion West Indies' win in the one-off Twenty20 International against Australia has helped it gain two ratings points on the Reliance ICC T20I Championship Table.


Australia, on the other hand, has retained its seventh place on the table despite dropping two ratings points to 102.


There is no other change in the table as both New Zealand and England have retained their pre-series ratings and placings.


To find out exactly how the forthcoming series will affect the T20I Championship Table, please click here. The T20I and ODI Championship Tables are updated after every match, unlike the Test Championship Table, which is updated after every series.


England aims to regain No.1 ODI ranking


Meanwhile, England has an opportunity to reclaim the number-one ranking on the Reliance ICC ODI Championship Table when it takes on New Zealand in a three-match series that commences in Hamilton on Sunday.


England is on equal points with India (119 ratings points) but is ranked behind the world champion when ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.


If England wins all three matches, it will reclaim the number-one ranking. In this scenario, England will stay on 119 ratings points but will move ahead of India by a fraction of a point. However, if England wins the series 2-1, it will retain second position but will drop to 116 ratings points.

In contrast, if eighth-ranked New Zealand wins the series by a margin of 2-1 or better, it could end up swapping places with seventh-ranked West Indies, while England could finish as low as fourth, depending on the result.

By Indian Sports News Network