Australia slide to eighth in Twenty20 rankings
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Australia have slipped to eighth in the latest ICC T20 world rankings, after the 3-0 series whitewash against India.
Only minnows Afghanistan, Scotland, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Ireland rank below Australia, just a month away from the T20 World Cup in India.
However, had Australia won the home series against India they would have risen from second to first on the official table.
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Aaron Finch also took a hit in the Twenty20 batting rankings, with Virat Kohli’s stunning series average of 199 seeing the Indian push the Australian opener back to second.
Australia’s bowling appears to be the biggest concern leading into the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup, with the injured duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins the only two Aussies in the top 20.
The news is however brighter for the Australian women’s team, who maintain their No.1 combined ranking for all forms of the game.
Twenty20 overall rankings:
1 India 120
2 West Indies 118
3 Sri Lanka 118
4 England 117
5 New Zealand 116
6 South Africa 115
7 Pakistan 113
8 Australia 110
9 Afghanistan 80
10 Scotland 66
11 Bangladesh 64
12 Hong Kong 62
13 Netherlands 61
14 Zimbabwe 54
15 Ireland 42|
Twenty20 batting rankings:
1 Virat Kohli (Ind)
2 AARON FINCH (AUS)
3 Alex Hales (Eng)
4 Francois du Plessis (Rsa)
5 Martin Guptill (NZ)
6 Kane Williamson (NZ)
7 Chris Gayle (WI)
8 Hamilton Masakadza (Zim)
9 Mohammad Shahzad (Afg)
10 Kusal Perera (Sri)
Twenty20 bowling rankings:
1 Sunil Narine (WI)
2 Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind)
3 Shahid Afridi (Pak)
4 Sachithra Senanayake (Sri)
5 Graeme Cremer (Zim)
6 Lasith Malinga (Sri)
7 Mitchel McClenaghan (NZ)
8 Imran Tahir (Rsa)
9 Dawlat Zadran (Afg)
10 Nuwat Kulasekara (Sri)