Wanindu Hasaranga and Virat Kohli gain significant spots in the latest ICC T20I rankings

There was a string of seismic movements in the pecking order in the ICC T20I rankings as the recently concluded Asia Cup and the Australia-New Zealand bilateral series left a significant impact on the ICC rankings. Wanindu Hasaranga, Virat Kohli, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar all gained crucial spots to move up the order in the latest ICC T20I rankings.

Talking about the bowlers, the Royal Challengers Bangalore leg-spinner, Wanindu Hasaranga, gained three crucial places to climb up to the sixth position of the points table after he finished the tournament as the second highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 9 wickets at an economy rate of 7.39.

Not only did Hasaranga make crucial contributions with the ball in his hands but his 21-ball-36 in the final helped Sri Lanka stabilize their ship from an early wobble and pile up important runs on the cards. His performance with the bat helped him move up by seven spots in the rankings of the all-rounders as he grabbed the fourth position on the points table.

Virat Kohli managed to gain 14 places in the batting echelons, claiming the fifteenth spot in the rankings. He was in phenomenal touch in the Asia Cup as he scored 276 runs to finish as the second highest run-scorer of the tournament, five adrift of Mohammad Rizwan in the top spot. Babar Azam who recently slipped to the second spot in the T20I rankings, fell a spot further as his loss was Aiden Markram’s gain.

Steven Smith also made a swashbuckling comeback, contributing instrumentally to his side’s exploits in Australia’s 3-0 sweep of the Kiwis, which brought him back to the top ten batters in the world. Former RCB pacer, Mitchell Starc bagged three important spots to grab the ninth spot in the points table, a feat signaling wartime preparation ahead of the latest T20 World Cup.