KL Rahul got his reward of the consistent show against New Zealand in the five-match T20I series as the Indian opener jumped four spots in the latest ICC T20I Rankings. Rahul achieved the second spot on the rankings with 823 points. Top on the charts is still Pakistan skipper Babar Azam with 879 points.
Rahul scored 224 runs in the series against NZ, which is the most by an Indian in a bilateral T20I series, surpassing Kohli's tally of 199 against Australia in a three-match series in 2018.
Apart from Rahul, Rohit Sharma entered the top 10 rankings with a jump of three places to 10th. Indian skipper Virat Kohli maintained the ninth spot and is the only other Indian apart from Rahul and Rohit in top 10.
India's middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer (up 63 places to 55th) and Manish Pandey (up 12 places to 58th) are others advancing in the latest rankings update.
The story is similar for the India bowling attack as Jasprit Bumrah has gained 26 places to reach 11th position, Yuzvendra Chahal has advanced 10 places to 30th and Shardul Thakur’s eight wickets in the series have lifted him 34 places to 57th position. Navdeep Saini (up 25 places to 71st) and Ravindra Jadeja (up 34 places to 76th) have also moved up.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson's 160 runs in the series have taken him from 23rd to 16th position while Tim Seifert (73rd to 34th) and Ross Taylor (50th to 39th) have also made notable gains in the batsmen's list. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has advanced six places to the 13th spot.
