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England veteran Joe Root has increased his lead at the top of the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings as young gun Abhishek Sharma joined white-ball greats Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav and became just the third Indian player to hold the No.1 spot for T20I batters. Meanwhile, Australia's Travis Head relinquished the premier position for the first time in more than a year.
Abhishek only burst onto the international scene last year when he scored a superb T20I century against Zimbabwe, but more recent efforts against South Africa and England have seen the 24-year-old overtake Head at the top of the batter rankings and become the new No.1 in the shortest format.
Abhishek Sharma joins Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav to become third Indian batter to clinch No. 1 spot in T20I Rankings
Head had held the No.1 ranking since he went past Suryakumar during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup last year, but the decision to sit out Australia's recent T20 series against the West Indies in the Caribbean saw Abhishek become just the third player from India to hold the top position.
Suryakumar held the top ranking prior to Head, while Kohli was the first Indian men's player to have the prestigious place in T20I cricket when he maintained the No.1 spot for much of the period between 2014 and 2017.
While Head dropped to second on the updated rankings for T20I batters, a big group of his Australian teammates were rewarded with large gains following an impressive 5-0 sweep over the West Indies away from home in the recent five-match series.
Right-hander Josh Inglis improves six places to jump to ninth for T20I batters, Tim David gains 12 spots to move to 28th, while Cameron Green climbs a whopping 64 spots to go to 24th following his 205 runs across the five matches and Player of the Series heroics.
Australian pace duo Nathan Ellis (up seven spots to equal eighth) and Sean Abbott (up 21 rungs to 23rd) make gains on the latest rankings for T20I bowlers, while Kiwi quick Matt Henry (up 10 places to 19th) is a rapid improver up the bowling charts following some impressive performances during New Zealand's successful tri-series triumph over South Africa and Zimbabwe.
(With Inputs from Press Release)
