News Sports Cricket Fakhar Zaman surpasses Rohit Sharma, eyes Virat Kohli next in latest ICC T20I rankings

Fakhar Zaman surpasses Rohit Sharma, eyes Virat Kohli next in latest ICC T20I rankings

Ahead of the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup, the ICC has released the final standings in terms of batting and bowling rankings. With no T20I played since January, Indian batters are stuck in the rankings while Pakistan and England players have benefited.

ICC T20I rankings Image Source : GETTYRohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Fakhar Zaman

International Cricket Council (ICC) updated the T20I rankings for one final time before the T20 World Cup. Teams like England, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies, Bangladesh and USA played a few matches over the last week or so and accordingly, the rankings have been updated. Meanwhile, the Indian stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have played only a handful of matches since the last T20 World Cup and have clearly lost their plot in the rankings.

While the Indian skipper is at the 52nd position, Kohli is above him at the 47th place. Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman is slotted in between them in the rankings. In fact, he jumped six places after smashing 45 runs off just 21 balls in the 183-run chase for Pakistan against England in the second T20I of the four-match series and is at the 51st place in the latest T20I rankings.

For India, Suryakumar Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal are the highest ranked batters at the first and sixth position respectively while the next in the list is Ruturaj Gaikwad at 11th who is not a part of the World Cup squad at all. Rinku Singh is the fourth highest ranked Indian in the rankings and he is placed 32nd. With a lot of T20I matches lined up to be played, Kohli and Rohit will certainly improve their rankings if they play well in the upcoming mega event.

As for Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan (3rd) and Babar Azam (4th) are in the top 10 and the next is directly Fakhar. The newest player in the top 10 is Brandon King who led the West Indies in three T20Is against South Africa recently and won all of them.

King jumped five places to climb to 8th place in the rankings by scoring 159 runs in three matches at an average of 53 and a strike rate of 167.37 with 10 fours and 13 sixes to his name.