India's K L Rahul has jumped nine spots to a career best number three in the latest ICC rankings for T20 batsmen. Rahul’s scores of 70, 101 not out, 6 and 19 in his last four T20 internationals against Ireland and England have meant he is just behind Australian captain Aaron Finch and Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman in the rankings. Rohit Sharma in 11th (up by two places) and captain Virat Kohli in 12th (down by four places) are the next highest-ranked India batsmen.
"This (ton in Manchester) is a very satisfying time for me. I have a few international hundreds but this means the world to me. It is very special to me because the last international ton I got was about two years ago," said Rahul.
"I have been getting fifties in the IPL and even in the Test matches… have been in an out of the ODI team. It’s been a rough one and half years… with injuries. I haven’t chased anything with so much heart and passion so this means the world to me. I have not been someone who chases numbers but when I was not getting the three-digit mark then I realised how important it is," he added.
Finch also became the first batsman in T20Is to break the 900-point mark but ended with a final tally of 891 points after the tri-series against Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The 31-year-old was in sensational form, finishing with 306 runs in five games at a strike-rate of over 200. His stellar run also included a record-breaking 172 off 76 balls – now the highest score in T20 internationals.
Zaman, who scored a career-best of 91 to help Pakistan clinch the tri-series final against Australia, bumped up 44 places on the table on the back of a stellar tournament where he also had scores of 61, 6, 47 and 73.
Leg-spinners Rashid Khan and Shadab Khan remained No. 1 and No. 2 in the bowlers’ rankings. Australian pacer Andrew Tye climbed up 41 spots to finish at No. 7 and England’s Adil Rashid moved up four places to ninth.
