India climb to 3rd spot in ICC T20 Championship table

Riding on their huge win over England in the group stages of the ongoing ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, India jumped four places to claim the third position in the Reliance ICC T20 Championship table, which was released today.

India spanked defending champions England by 90 runs in a Group A match, which propelled Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men to 116 rating points.

The crushing defeat meant England slipped a position to second spot with 124 ratings points.

South Africa head into the Super Eight stage as the number-one ranked team.
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina is the lone Indian to feature in the top 10 list for the T20I Player Rankings for batsmen.

Even though Raina dropped two places in the recently-released chart, the left-hander still occupied the fifth position with 730 points in his kitty.

Another Indian to rise in the chart is opener Gautam Gambhir who is 13th (up by three places).

New Zealand's wicket-keeper batsman Brendon McCullum retained his number-one batting spot with Chris Gayle in second place.

McCullum's knock of 123 against Bangladesh, the highest in the history of Twenty20 International cricket to date, also helped him achieve a career-best rating of 849.

Australia's Shane Watson jumped four places to a career-high third position. Watson, who won successive Player of the Match awards against Ireland and West Indies, also garnered his career-best rating of 758.

The batsmen from Asia have made the most impressive movements in the batting table ahead of the Super Eight stage, which starts in Pallekele tomorrow.

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara broke back into the top 10 and now sits in eighth position (up by three places). Others to make upward movements are Virat Kohli in 19th (up by 10 places), Rohit Sharma in 26th (up by 12 places), Nasir Jamshed in 32nd (up by 51 places), Shakib Al Hasan in 37th (up by 29 places) and Imran Nazir in 43rd (up by 42 places).

No Indian, however, found a place in the top-10 bowlers ranking, which is being headed by the spin trio of Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan), Graeme Swann of England and Sri Lankan mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis.

Comeback man Harbhajan Singh, who claimed four for 12 against England, India's best figures in a Twenty20 International, broke into the top 20 and is now at 17th place (up by five).

By virtue of his all-round performances in the two group matches, Watson continued to retain his number one position among all-rounders.

Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez also maintained his second spot in the all-rounders chart, but compatriot Shahid Afridi dropped a place to third.

Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan vaulted four places to fifth in the list.