In a rather unusual scenario, India’s Tilak Varma has climbed to No. 3 in the latest ICC Men’s T20I Batting rankings despite the national team not playing any T20Is in recent weeks.
With the IPL 2025 season now concluded and no bilateral series involving India currently underway, Varma’s jump has come as a bit of a surprise.
Poor IPL 2025, but Tilak is India’s 2-best T20I batter
Unfortunately, Tilak dropped his career-worst season with the Mumbai Indians (MI) this year, racking up 343 runs at an average of 31.18 and at a strike rate of 138.3 – mediocre numbers as per his standards.
As per the latest ICC rankings, he now sits with 804 rating points, just behind compatriot Abhishek Sharma and Australia’s Travis Head. Interestingly, Suryakumar Yadav, who had been a long-time No.1, has now dropped to sixth in the same list.
The Indian T20I captain was enduring one of his worst runs before the IPL. However, Suryakumar turned it around and how! The stylish dasher did the unthinkable and hammered 717 runs, the most by any non-opener in a season in any franchise cricket history! He rightfully got the award of IPL 2025’s Most Valuable Player of the Season, which basically is the Player of the Tournament honour.
Latest ICC T20I batting rankings ft. Tilak
| Pos | Team | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Australi | Travis Head | 856 |
| 02 | India | Abhishek Sharma | 829 |
| 03 | India | Tilak Varma | 804 |
| 04 | England | Phil Salt | 791 |
| 05 | England | Jos Buttler | 772 |
| 06 | India | Suryakumar Yadav | 739 |
| 07 | Sri Lanka | Pathum Nissanka | 714 |
| 08 | New Zealand | Tim Seifert | 708 |
| 09 | Sri Lanka | Kusal Perera | 676 |
| 09 | South Africa | Reeza Hendricks | 676 |
| 11 | India | Yashasvi Jaiswal | 673 |
Two Indian bowlers in top 10 as well
On the bowling front, India’s T20I spin duo Varun Chakaravarthy (3rd) and Ravi Bishnoi (7th) held their ground. Arshdeep Singh also retained a top-10 spot, ranked tenth with 653 points. Hardik Pandya continues to be the top-ranked T20I all-rounder globally.
Elsewhere, England’s Adil Rashid moved to second in the bowling rankings following a dominant 3-0 T20I series win over West Indies. Ben Duckett’s blazing 84 in the final match propelled him 48 places to 16th in the batting chart, while Harry Brook and West Indies skipper Shai Hope also made notable gains.
Moreover, Tilak Varma has also signed a short-term county contract with Hampshire, where he is expected to feature in four first-class games. This could be a crucial set of games for Tilak, who eyes expanding his career beyond being just a T20I specialist.
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