ICC Rankings Williamson joins Kohli in top-five across all formats

ICC Rankings Williamson joins Kohli in top-five across all formats

Following a productive series against Bangladesh, with scores of 73 not out, 12 and 60, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has entered the top-five of the latest Twenty20 International rankings for batsmen, released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday (January 9).

Williamson, who aggregated 145 runs in New Zealand's 3-0 T20I series win against Bangladesh, moved up two positions to be ranked fourth in the T20I rankings for batsmen.

Williamson joined Virat Kohli as the only two batsmen to feature in the top-five of all three formats. Williamson is ranked fifth in ODIs and fourth in Tests. Kohli, who will take over India's captaincy in all three formats following MS Dhoni's decision to step down from limited-overs captaincy, is the No. 1 ranked T20I batsman while he occupies the second position in both the ODI and Test rankings.

Colin Munro also took upward strides in the T20I rankings. The 29-year-old left-hander, who scored a 54-ball 101 in the second T20I against Bangladesh, jumped 20 spots to currently occupy the 19th position.

In the rankings for bowlers in the 20-over format, New Zealand's Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi reached career-best 18th and 19th positions respectively while Adam Milne moved up to the 17th spot.

Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman took a giant leap, moving up 10 places to enter the top-10 at the 10th position. He became the highest ranked T20I bowler for his country, going past Shakib Al Hasan, who is currently ranked 11th after moving up three spots himself. The T20I bowling charts is headed by South Africa's Imran Tahir, followed by India's Jasprit Bumrah and West Indies' Samuel Badree.

The whitewash New Zealand achieved in the T20I series against Bangladesh has helped them cement their No. 1 position in the T20I rankings for teams. They gained one point courtesy of their series win and have a six-point lead over the second-placed India.