India cricket team batter Ishan Kishan has trumped his teammate Abhishek Sharma to become the new number 1 T20I batter. The southpaw returned to the T20I setup earlier this year after a long exile and after he led Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title in the 2025/26 season. Kishan’s ascension to the top of the rankings comes after a splendid performance in the T20 World Cup 2026, while Abhishek Sharma delivered a rather sub-par performance.
Ishan Kishan is the new top-ranked T20I batter
Despite scoring just 1 and 12 runs in the IND vs IRE T20I series, Kishan managed to pip Abhishek to climb to the top of the T20I rankings. Abhishek Sharma, on the other hand, scored 49 and 0 in the two matches. Kishan amassed 317 runs at a strike rate of nearly 200 in the T20 WC, including a Player of the Match winning performance against arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo. Currently, Kishan has 876 rating points as opposed to Abhishek’s 869. The other Indian batters in the top 10 include Tilak Varma (5th), Suryakumar Yadav (8th).
Overall in 2026, Kishan has played 15 T20Is in which he has amassed 545 runs with a highest score of 103, averaging 36.33 and a strike rate of 199.63, and has scored 4 fifties and 1 hundred. Following impressive performance in the IPL 2026, he retained his spot in India’s T20I squad for the series against Ireland and England, and is trusted to carry out his role as the number 3 batter effectively. On the other hand, Sharma had a poor outing at the T20 World Cup, and scored just two notable knocks – against ZIM in the Super 8 tie and in the final. He had a good IPL season but failed to fire against Ireland.
Meanwhile, Varun Chakravarthy – who missed the IND vs IRE series – slips down one spot to the 3rd position on the rankings for T20I bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah also slips to the sixth position, moving out of the top five after being rested from the series against Ireland.
In the rankings for the all-rounders, Hardik Pandya retains his place at number 2 while Shivam Dube has moved three places to the 7th position after picking up 3 wickets and scoring 45 runs in the series against Ireland.
