Abhishek Sharma vs Sahibzada Farhan: T20 batting crown race tightens after latest ICC update

India’s T20I opener Abhishek Sharma continues to lead the ICC rankings for batters in the format despite a shock slump; however, he now has someone across the border challenging his number one position in the updated rankings on Wednesday (Mar 4). Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan, who finished with the most runs thus far this edition, has climbed up one place to the second spot, attaining his career-best T20I ratings (848). While England’s Phil Salt dropped one place to the third position, Ishan Kishan from India gained one position to the fourth place.

Farhan was the player to watch out for in the T20 World Cup 2026, scoring twin centuries in this edition alone and becoming the first batter to date to achieve this feat. Although his first T20 WC hundred (against Namibia) led to a 103-run win for Pakistan, his second in the do-or-die match against Sri Lanka in their final Super 8 fixture failed to guide his team to cruise into the last four despite the narrow win. He, however, impressed everyone with his batting prowess, earning an ODI call-up for the three-match series against Bangladesh later this month.

On the one hand, he finished with 383 runs in six outings, 64 more than Virat Kohli’s best outing (319 runs in the 2014 edition) and 80 more than his compatriot Babar Azam’s tally (303) in the 2021 T20 WC in the UAE, India’s Abhishek, on the other, is lingering down the order with just 95 runs in five matches thus far, including his maiden T20 WC fifty against Zimbabwe in the Super 8 tie.

Meanwhile, Abhishek maintains a 26-point cushion over the second-placed Farhan, with his fellow Indian Kishan sitting with 783 rating points to his name. Besides them, Tilak Varma also moved to the sixth place with 749 rating points. South Africa’s top T20I star, Dewald Brevis, also maintained his spot at the eighth position, with the Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav dropping one place to seventh with 739 points.

Zimbabwe’s Brian Bennett also jumped six places to the 11th position, with 701 rating points. England white-ball hero Jos Buttler sits in ninth place with 716 rating points, while New Zealand opener Tim Seifert is in 10th with 712 points.