Tilak Varma closed in on Travis Head’s top spot in T20I batting by going up from third place to No. 2

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-20252:04

Buttler: ‘Rashid is the most important player for us’

England legspinner Adil Rashid has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC rankings for T20I bowlers, after his consistent performances in the first three games against India helped the visitors keep the series alive. Rashid starred with frugal figures of 1 for 15 from overs in the third game in Rajkot to register a 26-run win for his side. Prior to that, he had finished with 1 for 14 and 1 for 27 at the start of the five-match series.Rashid had first claimed the No. 1 ranking at the end of 2023 for about a year until Akeal Hosein had displaced him before Christmas in 2024.Varun Chakravarthy, who bagged a five-for in the third T20I on Tuesday, galloped 25 places to reach No. 5 place among the T20I bowlers whereas Jofra Archer went one place behind Varun by jumping 13 spots after taking five wickets in the three T20Is in India.Arshdeep Singh retained his ninth rank, Ravi Bishnoi slipped from fifth to 10th place whereas Axar Patel went up five spots to No. 11.Full rankings tables

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Among T20I batters, Tilak Varma closed in on Travis Head’s top spot by going up from third place to second with scores of 18, 72* and 19* so far in the series, although Head still leads by 23 points. If Tilak manages to overtake Head with good scores in the remaining two games while Head plays a Test series in Sri Lanka, he will become the youngest-ever player to top the rankings. Abhishek Sharma went up as many as 59 places but is still ranked 40th.Noman, Warrican rise in Test bowling rankingsPakistan left-arm spinner Noman Ali, who took a hat-trick in the second Test against West Indies, jumped four places to move to No. 5 among Test bowlers although Pakistan lost the match to see the series being leveled 1-1. West Indies’ Jomel Warrican rose 16 spots to be ranked 25th after his match haul of nine wickets compared to Noman’s 10.Jasprit Bumrah still leads the Test bowlers’ rankings while Joe Root is on top of the batters’ list.