Abhishek Sharma leapfrogs Travis Head to be premier T20I batter

‌Abhishek Sharma became the top-ranked T20I batter as per the International Cricket Council’s latest list, updated on Monday. The Indian batter went past his Sunrisers Hyderabad opening partner, Travis Head (814,) to lead the list with 829 points.

The left-handed opener scored a blistering 135 off just 54 balls against England in the fifth game in Mumbai in his last T20I innings in February 2025. That also made him the Indian batter with the most runs in a T20I innings, going past Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 126 against New Zealand in 2023. He had an outstanding five-match series against England as he finished as the top run-getter with a whopping 279 runs at an average of 55.80 and a belligerent strike rate of 219.68.

The 24-year-old Punjab batter has played 17 T20Is with a tally of 535 runs, including two hundreds and two fifties, at an average of 33.43 and an astonishing strike rate of 193.84. In the Indian Premier League, Abhishek has amassed 1816 runs from 74 innings at a strike rate of 163.01.

Meanwhile, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav are the other Indian batters in the top-10 and continue to be at third and sixth spots, respectively. The England duo of Phil Salt and Jos Buttler round off the top five with 791 and 772 points.