McCullum, Ajmal on top in T20I rankings

New Zealand’s Brendon MuCullum has moved to No. 1 in the Twenty20 Internationals rankings, following his match-winning 91 against India in Chennai on Tuesday. In the bowlers’ rankings, Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal, who moved up to No. 1 in the ODI bowling rankings at the end of the one-dayers against Australia, repeated the feat in the T20s, where he took six wickets in three games at 8.66.

There was a lot of movement in the batting rankings following the clutch of T20I series in the lead-up to the World Twenty20, with Australia’s David Warner jumping up six places to fourth, and India’s Suresh Raina shifting up a place to third. The biggest loser in the rankings has been England’s Eoin Morgan, who slipped from No. 1 to No. 9 following the three-match series against South Africa, where he managed an aggregate of 15 runs from 20 balls.

Graeme Swann was the player replaced at the top of the bowling rankings, moving down to No. 2. Shane Watson was the biggest mover among the top bowlers, moving up eight places to seventh - he had picked up three wickets in the three games against Pakistan, conceding less than a run a ball.

Yuvraj Singh, who made 34 off 26 on comeback from cancer in India’s unsuccessful chase against New Zealand, re-entered the rankings at No. 15.

Twenty20 rankings

Batting: 1 Brendon McCullum, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 David Warner, 5 Martin Guptill, 6 Mahela Jayawardene, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Jacques Kallis, 9 Eoin Morgan, 10 Tillakaratne Dilshan Bowling: 1 Saeed Ajmal, 2 Graeme Swann, 3 Johan Botha, 4 Ajantha Mendis, 5 Nathan McCullum, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Abdur Razzak, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Shakib Al Hasan