Everyone is surprised to see the ICC rankings. (Photo- PTI)
Ishan Kishan vs Abhishek Sharma: The latest T20I rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) have completely surprised the cricket fans. A lot of strange mathematics has been seen in the ongoing battle for the number-1 position between the two star batsmen of the Indian team, Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma. Abhishek Sharma has been far ahead of Ishan Kishan in terms of runs on recent tours, but when it comes to ICC rating points, Ishan Kishan has got more advantage. Seeing this, everyone is surprised as to how this ICC system is working.
Game started from Ireland series
To understand this ranking controversy, we have to go back a little. Before the start of the Ireland series, Abhishek Sharma was the world’s number-1 T20 batsman with 875 rating points. Whereas, Ishan Kishan was at second place with 871 marks. After this, on the tour of Ireland, Abhishek Sharma scored 49 runs in 20 balls in the first match, but he could not even open the account in the next match. On the other hand, Ishan Kishan scored 1 run in the first T20 and only 12 runs in the second T20.
When the rankings were updated on July 1, everyone was surprised. Despite scoring less runs, Ishan Kishan got 876 rating points in his account and became number-1. At the same time, Abhishek Sharma fell to second place by scoring 869 points.
Once again Abhishek got a shock
Today i.e. on July 8, ICC has once again released its weekly rankings. During this one week, India has played 3 T20 matches against England, in which the performance of both is quite different from each other. Abhishek Sharma has scored 112 runs in these 3 matches, which also includes 1 half-century. At the same time, Ishan Kishan has scored 62 runs in 3 innings. Clearly, Abhishek scored more runs against England also. But in the new ranking, Ishan Kishan’s rating has jumped from 876 to 897 and he is firmly at number 1. On the other hand, Abhishek Sharma got a slight advantage despite scoring more runs and his rating increased from 869 to 881.
Complete account of last 5 matches
If the statistics of the last 5 T20 International matches of both the batsmen are compared, then this ICC ranking is even more surprising. In these 5 innings, Abhishek Sharma has scored more than double (161) runs than Ishan Kishan in the last 5 matches, his average is also better and the strike rate is skyrocketing at 211.84. Despite this, he was able to increase his rating by only 6 points. Whereas Ishan Kishan, who scored 75 runs at an average of only 15, has got a bumper advantage of 26 points. This rating system of ICC remains a big puzzle for the fans.
