Ishan Kishan becomes world number 1 batsman (Photo-GETTY IMAGES)
T20I batting rankings: The strange change in ICC’s new T20 rankings has surprised everyone. The big news is that Ishan Kishan has become the world’s number 1 T20 batsman and he has overtaken Abhishek Sharma. There is no doubt that Ishan Kishan has done amazing batting since his comeback and now he has become the top batsman in the T20 format, but something has happened in the latest ICC rankings which is no less than atrocity with Abhishek Sharma. Let us tell you what is the shocking thing in T20 ranking.
How did Ishan Kishan overtake Abhishek Sharma?
Abhishek Sharma’s slip in the ICC T20 rankings is very shocking because in the last series he scored more runs than Ishan Kishan and yet he lagged behind him in the rankings. Before the Ireland series, Abhishek Sharma was in first place with 875 rating points. Ishan Kishan was in second place with 871 marks. After this, in the first match against Ireland, Abhishek Sharma scored 49 runs in 20 balls and could not open the account in the next match. Whereas on the other hand, Ishan Kishan contributed only 1 run in the first T20 and only 12 runs in the second T20. But now in the latest ICC T20 rankings, Ishan Kishan has got 876 rating points and Abhishek has fallen to 869.
The question is how did this happen? It is a bit difficult to guess how the ICC rankings work but here it seems that Abhishek Sharma’s dismissal at 0 has cost him heavily. He was out on the very first ball in the second T20.
How Ishan Kishan changed the game in 15 matches?
Ishan Kishan completed the journey of becoming number 1 in just 15 matches. This left-handed batsman made a comeback in T20 International after 3 years on 21 January 2026 and in the first match against New Zealand, he was out after scoring just 8 runs, but then in the next match, he scored 76 runs and then on 31 January, this player scored a century by scoring 103 runs in 43 balls. After this, Ishan Kishan played innings of 61 runs against Namibia and 77 runs against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. In the T20 World Cup final, Ishan Kishan also made Team India the champion by scoring 54 runs in 25 balls.
Since his return, this player has scored 545 runs in 15 matches at an average of 36.33 and his strike rate has been around 200. During this period he scored 4 half-centuries and 1 century. On the other hand, since the return of Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma has been out at 0 6 times. His not opening his account cost him heavily in the ICC rankings and now he is no longer the number 1 T20 batsman.
