10 Jan 2017

Williamson climbs into top five T20 rankings

7:46 am on 10 January 2017

New Zealand cricket captain Kane Williamson has broken into the top five of the ICC world rankings for T20 batsmen, meaning he's now in the top five batsmen across all formats.

Kane Williamson in T20i beige.

Kane Williamson. Photo: Photosport

Williamson scored 145 runs in the three match T20 series clean sweep over Bangladesh which finished on Sunday.

Williamson scored 73 not out, 12 and 60 and has climbed two places to fourth position in the T20 rankings.

He's already ranked the world's fourth best test batsman and is ranked fifth for one-dayers.

This speaks volumes of Williamson's talent and his ability to adapt and adjust to any brand of cricket.

India's Virat Kohli is the only other batsmen in the world who presently features in the top five of all three formats.

He is the number-one ranked batsman in T20s, second-ranked in ODIs and ranked number-two in Tests.

Interestingly, both Kohli and Williamson captained their respective sides in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2008 in Malaysia.

India won the tournament when it defeated South Africa by 12 runs (DLS method).

Apart from Williamson, Black Caps batsman Colin Munro has also made an impact on the latest T20 rankings.

The left-hander smashed a 54-ball 101 in the second match, which has helped him jump 20 places to 19th.

In the ICC Player Rankings for T20 Bowlers, the biggest mover is Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman who won the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year award.

The left-armer has leaped 10 places to 10th in the latest rankings. In doing so, he has also become Bangladesh's highest-ranked bowler, leapfrogging Shakib Al Hasan who is 11th after rising three places.

New Zealand's Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi have also achieved career-high rankings.

Santner has gained 26 places and is now ranked 18th, while Sodhi has rocketed 19 places to claimed 19th spot.

With Adam Milne now in 17th place, New Zealand has three bowlers inside the top 20.

South Africa's Imran Tahir is the number-one ranked T20 bowler. He is followed by Jasprit Bumrah of India and West Indies' Samuel Badree.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has retained its status as the number-one ranked T20I side. For its 3-0 success, it has earned one point which has lifted it to 129 points. Bangladesh lost one point and has slipped to 72 points.

-RNZ