India Rise To Second In T20 Rankings With Whitewash Over Sri Lanka
Match Highlights:
- India moved to 2nd in the standings
- They were earlier 5th
- They have 121 points
- Kohli moved down to third
- They recently defeated SL 3-0
Christmas came early for the Indian team as a 3-0 whitewash of the Sri Lankans in the recently concluded Paytm T20 series saw India climb up three places in the international rankings. Placed earlier at fifth, India moved up to second in the table on the back of their drubbing of Sri Lanka. Their series win saw them move to 121 points, two more than their tally of 119 before the series.
After comfortably defeating Sri Lanka in the third and final T20 of the series, India not only took home the trophy but also leapfrogged England, New Zealand and West Indies to take over the second spot in the rankings. They are now only three points behind leaders Pakistan and if they continue their current form in the upcoming series against South Africa they could end up the top of the list within a month. Already top of the ODI and Test Rankings, the Indian side will be going all out as they face South Africa in South Africa in a T20 series.
It was not however all rosy for India as captain Virat Kohli slipped to third in the Best Batsman ranking owing to his absence from the series. Kohli, who was at the top with 824 points previously, now has 776 points. His ranking was affected by ICC’s rule which states that players lose two percent of their rating points for each T20I missed. Kohli is now behind Australia’s Aaron Finch (784) and West Indies opener Evin Lewis (780). It was however good news for KL Rahul who gained significantly to be placed fourth in the table for his back to back half centuries.
Coach Ravi Shastri is confident India can maintain all their rankings ahead of the upcoming tour of South Africa. For us all opposition is the same, all oppositions have to be respected and every game is a home match. As it turns out, next we are in South Africa. Where South Africa is different is that we haven’t won a series in South Africa,” he said.
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