Virat Kohli tops T20I batting charts for the first time

Friday, 12 September 2014 02:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kohli’s 66 runs off 41 balls has earned him eight ratings points, which has pushed his tally up to 897 ratings points

Virat Kohli has become the number-one ranked batsman in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I batsmen for the first time in his career. This followed his powerful performance in the one-off Twenty20 International (T20I) in Birmingham on Sunday, where England beat India by three runs in a last-ball thriller. Kohli’s 66 runs off 41 balls has earned him eight ratings points, which has pushed his tally up to 897 ratings points. In doing so, he has overtaken Australia’s newly-appointed T20I captain Aaron Finch by five ratings points. The 25-year-old from Delhi, who was the ICC’s ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and also led India to the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup title in Malaysia in 2008, is now this year’s second highest run-scorer in T20Is with 385 runs, including five half-centuries against his name. England’s Alex Hales, who scored 40 on Sunday and occupies third position, leads the run-scorers’ table with 397 runs. Kohli and Suresh Raina, who is in 10th place, are the only India batsmen inside the top 10. England captain Eoin Morgan, who won the Player of the Match award, has been rewarded with a jump of six places to occupy 14th position. Morgan’s 71 runs off just 31 deliveries contributed significantly to England’s match-winning total of 180 runs. Amongst the bowlers, Steven Finn has climbed up seven spots to 24th, while Ravindra Jadeja is right behind him in 25th position, having risen three spots. Mohammad Shami, playing in only his fourth T20I, returned match figures of 3 for 38, which has seen him vault 34 places to 144th in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I bowlers.