India's Tilak Varma has achieved a career-high ranking, now positioned second in the latest ICC T20I rankings for batters, which were published on Wednesday. The left-handed batsman ascended to this rank following his impressive unbeaten score of 72* in the second T20I against England. At the age of 22 years and 82 days, Tilak is just 23 rating points shy of the top-ranked Travis Head and stands a strong chance of surpassing Pakistan's Babar Azam's record as the youngest player to lead the T20I batting rankings. Babar Azam previously held this record at 23 years and 105 days when he first reached the top in January 2018.

Tilak's 832 rating points rank as the fourth highest for an Indian batter in T20I history, following Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul. He faced his first dismissal in five innings during the third T20I in Rajkot on Tuesday, where Adil Rashid delivered a remarkable delivery that breached his defence. Prior to this, Tilak had impressive scores of 107*, 120* (both against South Africa), along with 19* and 72* against England.

Currently, he has accumulated 725 runs in 23 T20Is, boasting an average of 55.76 and a strike rate of 155.24, including two centuries. Tilak has the opportunity to surpass Babar and potentially dethrone Head from the top position by delivering strong performances in the remaining two T20Is against England.

In the bowling rankings, England's wrist-spinner Adil Rashid has taken over the top position from Akeal Hosein, who held it for 44 days. Rashid's performance, with figures of one for 14 and one for 15 in the second and third matches of the series, respectively, helped England reduce the lead to 2-1.

This marks the second occasion Rashid has claimed the top spot, having previously held it for a year from December 2023 to December 2024.

Additionally, Liam Livingstone has moved up five places to 32nd, and Abhishek Sharma has risen 59 places to 40th among batters following the series. In the bowling rankings, Varun Chakravarthy has advanced 25 places to achieve a career-best fifth position, while Joffra Archer has climbed 13 places to sixth. Axar Patel has moved up five places to 11th,

Test rankings

Left-arm spinners Noman Ali and Jomel Warrican have achieved their highest-ever rankings in the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings following their exceptional performances in the second Test between Pakistan and the West Indies held in Multan.

Noman, who made history as the first Pakistani spinner to secure a Test hat-trick with a match total of 10 wickets for 121 runs, has ascended four positions to claim fifth place with 806 rating points. He is now the 12th Pakistani bowler to surpass the 800-point threshold in Test cricket and is currently the only representative from his nation within the top 20.

Warrican was awarded the Player of the Match title after taking nine wickets for 70 runs in the second Test, resulting in a remarkable rise of 16 places to 25th position. Over the course of the two Tests, he has improved his ranking by a total of 28 places, having taken 19 wickets, which also earned him the Player of the Series accolade.

Kemar Roach has moved up one position to 18th, while Gudakesh Motie has climbed six places to 58th among West Indian bowlers. For Pakistan, Sajid Khan has advanced two spots to 21st, and Abrar Ahmed has also risen two places to 50th.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite's half-century in the second innings, which played a crucial role in securing a 120-run victory, has propelled him eight places to 44th. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has made progress towards the top 10, moving from 17th to 15th position.

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