Tilak Varma enters top 3 in latest ICC men's T20I batting rankings; Hardik Pandya back as No. 1 all-rounder

Tilak Varma cracked two centuries in the T20I series in South Africa.

On the back of his twin centuries in South Africa, 22-year-old Tilak Varma has made an unbelievable jump of 69 spots in the latest ICC men’s T20I batting rankings to storm into the top three!

Varma had a breakthrough T20I series against the Proteas in which he scored 280 runs, the most by any batsman in the series, at an average of 140 in four games, while remaining not out twice.

Following on from Sanju Samson’s heroics, Varma became the second Indian batsman to hit two consecutive T20I centuries as India clinched the series 3-1. His strike rate of 198.58 was simply astonishing. The young left-hander duly bagged the Man of the Series award for his sizzling performances with the bat.

Varma, who wasn’t even in the top 50 in the ICC men’s T20I batting rankings before the start of the series against South Africa, has jumped 69 batsmen to end up in the third position behind the top-spot holder Travis Head and second-placed Phil Salt. Tilak also moved ahead of Suryakumar Yadav, his India captain, who is now fourth.

Samson, who finished as the second-highest scorer in the series and who also hit two centuries in four games, climbed 17 spots to the 22nd position.

Hardik Pandya reclaims No. 1 all-rounder’s spot

Another Indian player to make gains in the ICC rankings following the South Africa tour is Hardik Pandya, who displaced Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee to reclaim his spot as the numero uno ICC men’s T20I all-rounder.

Pandya had slipped to third as Airee and England’s Liam Livingstone had moved ahead of him. But his efforts with both bat and ball against South Africa helped him surge back to the top position. He had scored 39* in the second T20I and later took 1/8 from three overs in the fourth T20I.

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