Abhishek Sharma has lost his position at the top of the ICC T20I batters rankings after poor show in the second game vs Ireland in Belfast last week.
Published: July 1, 2026, 2:50 PM IST
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Ishan Kishan has replaced Abhishek Sharma as world No. 1 T20I batter. (Photo: IANS)
India vs England 2026 1st T20: Team India opener Abhishek Sharma’s reign at the top of the ICC T20I rankings has come to an end ahead of the five-match T20I series vs England which begins at Chester-le-Street in Durham on Wednesday. Abhishek has been the world No. 1 T20I batter for nearly one year but has been replaced by his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Ishan Kishan at the top.
Abhishek’s downfall comes of the back of his first-ball duck in the second T20I match vs Ireland in Belfast on Sunday. It was Abhishek’s sixth T20I duck of 2026 and his ninth in all T20 cricket this year. He had top-scored for India in the first T20I last Friday with 49 off 20 balls.
Kishan earned a new career-high rating and surpassed Abhishek following the completion of India’s recent two-match T20I series against Ireland in Belfast, which Shreyas Iyer’s side lost 2-0. The SRH and Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter now has 876 points as compared to Abhishek’s 869 points while Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan remains in 3rd place with 848 points
A changing of the guard at the top of the ICC Men’s T20I Batter Rankings, with further movement in the Test charts following a big week of #WTC27 action
Details https://t.co/KoXIJ9DBFk
— ICC (@ICC) July 1, 2026
The rise to the top for Kishan comes on the back of his consistent show at the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 earlier this year, when he piled up 317 runs at a strike rate of almost 200 that included a ‘Player of the Match’ performance against Pakistan in Colombo. Abhishek, on the other hand, started off the T20 World Cup 2026 with three successive ducks.
Abhishek had held the top ranking for almost 12 months, with Kishan joining an exclusive group that includes Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav as one of four male players from India to have held the top spot for batters in T20I cricket.
There are only seven rating points separating the two Indian players at the top of the rankings for T20I batters, while Ireland duo Lorcan Tucker (up four places to equal 77th) and Ross Adair (up six slots to 84th) make some ground in this category following some decent efforts with the bat in Belfast.
Travis Head returns to top of Test rankings
There was also plenty of change on the latest Test rankings following the completion of three Tests around the world, with big changes at the top of both the batting and bowling categories as a result. Australia’s Travis Head, who is also Ishan Kishan’s teammate at SRH, took back the position as the No.1 Test batter as Harry Brook (2nd) and Joe Root (down two spots to 3rd) failed to impress during the Nottingham Test against New Zealand.
Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah also regained sole ownership of the top ranking for Test bowlers as New Zealand pacer Matt Henry dropped back down to second after missing the third Test due to injury. Henry had claimed 11 wickets in the 2nd Test vs England.
Rachin Ravindra (up two spots to seventh), Daryl Mitchell (up five places to 11th), Devon Conway (up 14 rungs to equal 15th) and Tom Latham (up 12 slots to equal 31st) made big strides on the updated list for Test batters.
Kiwi pacer Nathan Smith (up eight rungs to 38th) makes gains on the latest rankings for Test batters, while England captain Ben Stokes improves two places to finish his international career in third place on the list for Test all-rounders following his mid-match retirement.
