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India has been playing New Zealand in a five-match T20I series. The Men in Blue have already sealed the series after leading it 3-0 away from home, which marked the first series victory for Shreyas Iyer as captain in SENA countries. Abhishek Sharma, who went berserk in the 3rd T20I, has climbed up the ICC rankings once again, becoming the No.1 T20I batter.
India were leading 2-0 in the series before they started a carnage in Wellington at the Hnry Stadium, which was led by Abhishek Sharma. They made a mockery of a good target of 199 runs as they chased it down in 13.2 overs, citing the powerful hitting from the two openers, Abhishek and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Abhishek Sharma rises to No.1 T20I spot
Abhishek Sharma has been in brilliant form in the series but could not convert it into a big score until last night. He played a blistering knock of 113 runs off 38 deliveries and smacked the Kiwi bowlers all over the park, smashing 9 fours and 11 sixes in his amazing innings as he was also the Player of the Match for his innings.
After his breathtaking innings, the Southpaw, who was the No.2 T20I batter right behind his team India teammate Ishan Kishan, has moved one place ahead of Kishan, as Abhishek Sharma now has 897 points at the moment, given his superb form from the last few series and also Kishan not playing this series due to an injury.
Ishan Kishan slips down to No.3
Ishan Kishan, who gained the No.1 T20I spot in July after his explosive batting since his return to the Men in Blue squad. The Southpaw has been brilliant throughout 2026. He has been excellent in 2026 and remains the leading run-scorer in the world in this calendar year in the T20I format with 1159 runs.
Ishan was excellent in the T20 World Cup for India; however, after being injured in the New Zealand series, he has not played in the last two games and might not feature in the fourth game as well, given an adductor strain. Thus, he has dropped to the No.3 position in the rankings, while Pakistan batter Sahibzada Farhan has gained one place to No.2.
Marco Jansen becomes new No.1 Test bowler and all-rounder
Apart from Abhishek Sharma, there has been another player who has been ranked No.1 in the Test rankings: South Africa all-rounder Marco Jansen, who has been brilliant throughout the series against Australia, has had a rapid rise as he became the new No. 1 ranked Test bowler and all-rounder. He has been excellent with the bat and ball in the crucial series against the Aussies.
Jansen played a crucial knock in the second Test match in Gqeberha; he scored 86 runs for the side in the lower order and gave amazing support to his captain, Temba Bavuma which helped the Proteas to post a 400+ total in the first innings.
He also picked 5 wickets in the first innings and helped his side to win the game. Jansen has replaced Ravindra Jadeja in the all-rounder rankings, who held the position for four years and replaced Mitchell Starc to become the new No.1 Test bowler.
