Tilak Varma's Supremacy Continues: Goes Past Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan & Shubman Gill in T20I Rankings

Tilak Varma’s phenomenal run in the ongoing T20I series against West Indies is the big new thing in international cricket. The Hyderabad batter was handed a debut in the series opener in which he top-scored for India with a quick-fire 39 off just 22 balls. He carried on the momentum in the next couple of games in Guyana and scored 51 and 49 not out, respectively. He has been the highest scorer for India this series after his unbeaten knock in the last encounter, which India won by 7 wickets, he surpassed Nicholas Pooran to become the leading run-getter of the series with 139 runs.

Tilak has now made it to the ICC rankings on the back of some remarkable performances. In the latest T20I players’ rankings, released on Wednesday, the left-hander found himself in the 46th spot with 503 rating points. Interestingly, he is already ahead of the likes of Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill and even captain Hardik Pandya.

Notably, Varma is the fifth-highest-ranked batter in the shortest format. Former captain Virat Kohli, who hasn’t played a single T20I game this year, is placed 19^th while KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are 33rd and 34th respectively. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav continues to be the No. 1 ranked batter in T20Is.

Shubman is yet to find success in the ongoing T20I series. He has managed scores of 3, 7 & 6 in three which saw him falling 11 places in the latest rankings. He is now in 68th position with 435 points while Kishan is 54th with only a point behind Hardik Pandya (490), who is 53rd.

Regarding the bowlers’ ranking, Kuldeep Yadav has made the biggest jump on the list of bowlers. The Chinaman bowler has moved up by 24 places to grab the 51st place in the rankings after his run-a-ball economy rate and 4 wickets in two games. Axar Patel has gone up by 7 positions to 33rd in the rankings, while Hardik Pandya went a place up to 37th.

There’s no Indian bowler among the top 10 in the T20I rankings. Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh is 17^th and continues to be the top-ranked bowler from the side. However, the left-arm pacer has slipped three spots after inconsistent outings in the first three T20Is against the Windies.