After a 3-0 whitewash of West Indies in the just concluded T20I series, India has regained the No.1 spot in the latest ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings, which was released on Monday.
After winning the first two affairs of the rubber, the Rohit Sharma-led side also won the third and final match by 17 runs against the Kieron Pollard-led side in Kolkata. Notably, in the third T20 at the historic Eden Gardens on Sunday (February 20), wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan (34), Shreyan Iyer (25), Suryakumar Yadav (65) and Venkatesh Iyer (35 not out) came up with useful contributions as the tourists could only manage 167/9 in reply to India’s 184/5 in the allotted 20 overs.
India had earlier defeated West Indies in the first two games of the series by six wickets and eight runs.
Prior to the T20I series, the two sides had faced-off in a three-match ODI rubber which was also won by the home side. India had whitewashed the Men In Maroon 3-0 in the ODIs by winning the first, second and third match by six wickets, 44 runs and 96 runs respectively at the Narendra Modi stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad. Notably, all the matches of the ODI series were held at the same venue before the teams travelled to Kolkata, which hosted the entire T20I series.
The victory helped India leapfrog England at the top of the ICC T20 team rankings, with Rohit Sharma’s side now matching the top rating of 269.
Although both England and India both have the same ratings (269), the Men In Blue have a total of 10,484 points, which is 10 more than the Three Lion’s 10,474.
On the other hand, Pakistan (rating of 266), New Zealand (255) and South Africa (253) occupy the third, fourth and fifth place respectively while Australia (249) remain in sixth place after their 4-1 series victory over Sri Lanka.
West Indies, which suffered a 0-3 whitewash, are seated seventh in the rankings with a rating of 235 while Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh occupy the eighth, ninth and tenth place in the rankings.
India will now host Sri Lanka for a three-match T20I series and a two-match Test series.
The T20I series will be beginning on February 24 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. The second and third affair of the series will be held at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium, Dharamsala on February 26 and 27 respectively.
The two sides will then meet at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali for the first Test, starting March 4.
The second and final Test will be held from March 12 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
Notably, the first Test in Mohali will also mark the 100th Test for former India skipper Virat Kohli.