NEW DELHI: Suryakumar Yadav continued his domination at the top of the T20I rankings by further extending his lead after cracking a quick-fire half-century against South Africa in the second T20I Gqeberha on Tuesday.
Skipper Suryakumar led his team from the front with 56-run knock off 36 balls and gained a total of 10 rating points to sit atop the rankings in the shortest format of the game with a total of 865 rating points.Rising India star Rinku Singh saw a massive jump of 46 places to take 59th spot in the rankings after smashing a maiden international fifty (68 not out) against Proteas but India suffered a five-wicket defeat in the rain-marred game.
Surya currently holds a commanding lead over his closest competitors in the rankings, with Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan trailing behind at 787 rating points and South Africa’s Aiden Markram at 758. This significant lead comes less than six months before the commencement of the tournament.
Suryakumar famously claimed the premier ranking during the most recent edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia towards the end of last year and on current form it appears the India batter is likely to hold that position into next year’s tournament in the West Indies and USA.

South Africa opener Reeza Hendricks is one player to make ground on Suryakumar after he moved up one place to eighth following his innings of 49 against India, while Tilak Varma up 10 spots to 55th.
With newly-crowned No.1 T20I bowler Ravi Bishnoi missing selection on the tour of South Africa so far it has paved the way for Afghanistan ace Rashid Khan to join the India young gun at the top of the rankings for T20I bowlers, with Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi also making some eye-catching ground in rising two places to 10th following an economical spell of 1/18 in their most recent contest.