ICC punishes Travis Head for missing West Indies series, SRH teammate Abhishek Sharma becomes 3rd Indian to be crowned no.1 T20I batter

Skipping the five-T20I series against West Indies led to Travis Head losing his no.1 spot as T20I batter. In ICC's latest T20I rankings, Head's SRH teammate, Inda opener Abhishek Sharma has been crowned as the new no.1 T20I batter. 

Abhishek became the third India batter after former T20I cricketer Virat Kohli and current T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav to hold the spot in the format. 

24-year-old Abhishek has 829 rating points, 14 more than Head. Tilak Varma holds the third spot with 804 rating points. Another Indian batter in top 10 is Suryakumar who has 739 points. Meanwhile, Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal slipped two places and out of top 10. Jaiswal is ranked 11th with 673 points. 

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Inglis enters top 10, David and Green's huge jump

A major addition to the top 10 T20I batters is Australia's wicketkeeeper-batter Josh Inglis. He scored 172 runs from five innings at an average of 43 and strike rate of 209.76. He scored two fifties in the series.

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Tim David made a huge jump in rankings. He went up 12 places to occupy the 18th spot as he scored the fastest T20I century for Australia from just 37 balls. David scored at a strike rate of 269.39. 

Another Australia batter who made huge gains is Cameron Green. He was named 'Player of the series' for scoring 205 runs from five innings at an average of 68.33, including three half-centuries.

It was not all doom and gloom for West Indies batters. While captain Shai Hope retained 10th spot, Brandon King went up nine places. The opener scored 160 runs from five innings.

Head's chance to go up 

Head has been named in Australia's T20I squad for the three-T20I series against South Africa at home. The T20I series commences on August 10 at Marrara Cricket Ground, Darwin.

Abhishek's T20I numbers

It took Abhishek 17 T20Is to become the no.1 batter. From 16 innings, he has 535 runs at an average of 33.43, including two centuries and as many fifties. His strike rate is 193.84.

Abhishek is expected to be back in T20I action if the T20 Asia Cup 2025 goes ahead as scheduled.