Dawid Malan has achieved the highest-ever rating points for batsmen in the T20I Player Rankings after the series against South Africa.
Malan shoots up rankings
Malan enjoyed a stellar run that saw him top the series aggregate with 173 runs and help England whitewash South Africa 3-0.
The left-hander has reached 915 points, the first to cross the 900-point mark after Australian Aaron Finch’s 900-point achievement in July 2018.
The 33-year-old Englishman now enjoys a 44-point lead over Pakistan’s Babar Azam, whom he supplanted to become number one in September this year.
Malan’s player of the series performance included a match-winning 99 not out in the final match and helped England leapfrog Australia to take top position in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings.
England on top of the world
England, who had started the series at 271 points, are now level with Australia at 275 points but ahead on decimal points. South Africa and New Zealand retain their fifth and sixth positions while the West Indies have slipped behind Afghanistan to 10th place after losing 2-0 to New Zealand in another series, performances of which are also included in Wednesday’s rankings update.
England’s Jos Buttler has gained seven spots to reach 21st position while South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen’s continued good form, which saw him score 136 runs in the series, has lifted him 17 places to a career-best fifth position. Faf du Plessis’s return to form, with an aggregate of 121 runs, has pushed him into the top 20.
Among the bowlers, England’s leg-spinner Adil Rashid is back to the 700-point mark, gaining three places to reach number 4. He is just one spot below his career-best third position achieved in November 2018. The top seven bowlers are all spinners, with Tabraiz Shamsi, South Africa’s top-ranked bowler in 5th place.
Chris Jordan, who became England’s leading T20I wicket-taker in the third match against South Africa with his 66th wicket, has gained one place to reach 12th rank.
Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi makes an entry into the top 50 bowlers for the first time after taking four wickets in the series. His previous best was 67th in September this year.
Ferguson on the charge
The series in New Zealand saw the home side’s Lockie Ferguson leap 45 slots to 32nd position after finishing as the most successful bowler in the series with seven wickets, which included a player of the match effort of five for 21 in the first match.
Glenn Phillips celebrated his recall to the New Zealand T20I side for the first time in two years by smashing a century in the second match and climbing into the top 100 batsmen for the first time – ending the series in 86th place.
Kieron Pollard was the West Indian star of the series, scoring 103 runs at a strike rate of 198. That was good enough to take him up 18 places to the 57th rank with the bat and up to seventh place in the all-rounders’ table.
ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings (as of 2 December 2020)
Batting (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | S/R | Highest Rating |
| 1 | (-) | Dawid Malan | England | 915 | 53.43 | 149 | 915 v SA at Cape Town 2020 |
| 2 | (-) | Babar Azam | Pakistan | 871 | 50.93 | 130 | 896 v ENG at Cardiff 2019 |
| 3 | (-) | Aaron Finch | Australia | 835 | 38.43 | 155 | 901 v Zim at Harare 2018 |
| 4 | (-) | KL Rahul | India | 824 | 45.65 | 146 | 854 v Eng at Old Trafford 2018 |
| 5 | (+) | Rassie van der Dussen | South Africa | 744*! | 38.71 | 137 | 744 v Eng at Cape Town 2020 |
| 6 | (-) | Colin Munro | New Zealand | 739 | 31.34 | 156 | 830 v Pak at Dubai 2018 |
| 7 | (-) | Glenn Maxwell | Australia | 696 | 33.52 | 158 | 838 v SL at Adelaide 2019 |
| 8 | (-) | Hazratullah Zazai | Afghanistan | 676* | 40.71 | 155 | 736 v WI at Lucknow 2019 |
| 9 | (-) | Virat Kohli | India | 673 | 50.80 | 138 | 897 v Eng at Edgbaston 2014 |
| 10 | (-) | Eoin Morgan | England | 662 | 30.37 | 139 | 872 v India at Old Trafford 2011 |
| 10 | (+) | Rohit Sharma | India | 662 | 32.62 | 139 | 719 v WI at Lucknow 208 |
Bowling (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Econ | Highest Rating |
| 1 | (-) | Rashid Khan | Afghanistan | 736 | 12.62 | 6.14 | 816 v Ban at Dehradun 2018 |
| 2 | (-) | Mujeeb Ur Rahman | Afghanistan | 730 | 17.72 | 6.15 | 745 v Ire at Greater Noida 2020 |
| 3 | (-) | Ashton Agar | Australia | 706 | 20.86 | 6.87 | 717 v Eng at Southampton 2020 |
| 4 | (+) | Adil Rashid | England | 700 | 25.80 | 7.52 | 716 v WI at St Kitts 2019 |
| 5 | (-) | Tabraiz Shamsi | South Africa | 680 | 33.28 | 7.68 | 699 v Eng at Paarl 2020 |
| 6 | (-) | Adam Zampa | Australia | 679 | 20.86 | 6.56 | 720 v SL at Brisbane 2019 |
| 7 | (-) | Mitchell Santner | New Zealand | 643 | 21.70 | 7.56 | 724 v Pak at Wellington 2018 |
| 8 | (-) | Kane Richardson | Australia | 641 | 25.81 | 7.69 | 664 v Eng at Southampton 2020 |
| 9 | (+) | Imad Wasim | Pakistan | 637 | 21.93 | 6.13 | 780 v WI at Trinidad 2017 |
| 10 | (-) | Sheldon Cottrell | West Indies | 634 | 21.81 | 7.89 | 648 v NZ at Auckland 2020 |
All-rounders (top five)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Highest Rating |
| 1 | (-) | Mohammad Nabi | Afghanistan | 294 | 355 v Ban at Mirpur 2019 |
| 2 | (-) | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 268 | 409 v Pak at Mirpur 2015 |
| 3 | (-) | Glenn Maxwell | Australia | 220 | 368 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2016 |
| 4 | (+1) | Richie Berrington | Scotland | 194 | 204 v Ire at Malahide 2019 |
| 5 | (-1) | Sean Williams | Zimbabwe | 190 | 225 v Nepal at Singapore 2019 |
For more information on player rankings, please click here.
