Joe Root breaks into top five while Chahal vaults 92 places

England’s Joe Root and India wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal have made impressive gains in the latest MRF Tyres ICC T20I Player Rankings, which were released on Thursday following the three-match series which concluded in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Root finished as the leading run-scorer in the series with 126 runs for which he has been rewarded with a jump of two places that has put him in the fifth position.

Root currently sits third in the Test and sixth in the ODI player rankings and will be eying a rise by at least one place in the forthcoming ODI series against the West Indies, so that he can join India’s Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson of New Zealand as the only batsmen to feature in the top five of each format.

Kohli is ranked second in Tests, third in ODIs and number-one in T20Is, while Williamson is ranked fourth in Tests, fifth in ODIs and fourth in T20Is.

Other batsmen to head in the right direction following the latest updates, which also include the series between South Africa and Sri Lanka, include England captain Eoin Morgan in 11th (up by four places), India’s Lokesh Rahul in 15th (up by 15 places) and Jos Buttler of England in 18th (up by two places).

Kohli leads number-two ranked Aaron Finch of Australia by 28 points, while Glenn Maxwell of Australia is third.

India’s Yuzvendra Chahal, who took six for 25 in the series decider – the third-best figures in the shortest format of the game to date - has rocketed 92 places to claim 86th position. He was adjudged player of the Bengaluru T20I as well as player of the series.

India’s Jasprit Bumrah, who along with England’s Chris Jordan was the second most successful bowler in the series with five wickets, has narrowed the gap with South Africa’s number-one ranked Imran Tahir, who claimed six wickets in the series against Sri Lanka. The two are now separated by just four points.

Samuel Badree of the West Indies sits third in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for T20I Bowlers.

Other bowlers to head in the right direction include England’s Jordan in 17th (up by nine places), Ashish Nehra of India in 24th (up by two places), Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara in 26th (up by 11 places) and Moeen Ali of England in 46th (up by 49 places).

Meanwhile, in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings, England has slipped behind Australia in sixth position, while India has retained its second position, trimming number-one ranked New Zealand’s lead to just five points.

MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings (as on 2 February, after the conclusion of the India-England and South Africa-Sri Lanka series)

Rank	Team	Points
1	New Zealand	129
2	India	124
3	West Indies	116
4	South Africa	115
5	Australia	115
6	England	114
7	Pakistan	113
8	Sri Lanka	98
9	Afghanistan	84
10	Bangladesh	72