Kohli storms into top-10 T20I batter’s list, Conway closes in on Rizwan at top

Dubai: Star India batter Virat Kohli stormed his way back into the top ten for T20I batters in the latest ICC rankings released on Wednesday after guiding India to a thrilling win in the Super 12 match against Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup.

Kohli, who smashed an unbeaten 82 with hit six fours and four giant sixes, to guide his side to a memorable final-ball victory over Pakistan in Melbourne on Sunday, climbed up five spots to ninth position in the latest rankings.

Former India captain stemmed the wicket flow with a 113-run stand with Hardik Pandya before helping take 48 off the last three overs to seal the game. Hardik, who contributed by scoring 40 with the bat and took three wickets, maintained his spot at No. 3 in the all rounders’ list.

Meanwhile, Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan remains on top of the batter list, but there is a new challenger to the title as New Zealand opener Devon Conway rises three places to second following his unbeaten 92 against Australia at the T20 World Cup.

Conway flayed the Australian attack to all parts of the SCG during his 58-ball innings as he and Finn Allen (42 off 16) combined to put the reigning T20 World Cup champions to the sword in the first match of the Super 12s on Saturday.

The innings sees Conway jump past India’s Suryakumar Yadav (828), Pakistan skipper Babar Azam ((799) and South Africa veteran Aiden Markram ((762) and within striking distance to challenge Rizwan for top billing at a career high rating of 831 rating points.

Allen too is on the move, with his swashbuckling knock against the Aussies helping him improve a whopping 17 places to equal 13th overall on the list for batters.

On the other hand, Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan has overtaken Australia’s Josh Hazlewood to become No. 1 among the bowlers. Rashid removed Harry Brook and went for only 17 in his four-over spell but could not stop Afghanistan losing to England. – IANS