England have reclaimed the top position in the ICC Men’s T20I team rankings after completing a 3-0 series whitewash against Sri Lanka, pushing reigning T20 World Cup champions India down to second.
Harry Brook’s side sealed the rankings boost at Old Trafford in Manchester, where England defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the third T20I on September 19. Sri Lanka posted 124, leaving England with a target of 125. The hosts required only 9.4 overs to finish the chase and complete a clean sweep of the three match contest.
England moved above the Shreyas Iyer led side on the decimal calculations used to determine positions when teams have identical rating points. The ICC’s current rankings list England second and India first on its team pages, although the latest post series update has England ahead on the underlying calculation. The bowling attack also played its part in Manchester. England had already reached No. ‘Everybody stepped up in this series, especially lads who haven’t played as much. Sonny Baker, for example, bowling three overs in the powerplay in two games is an amazing achievement, not to mention the amount of runs that a lot of people do in the powerplay as well, taking wickets. Liam Dawson again, awesome performer, Jos Buttler again. I could go through that whole team, but yeah, we’re adapting to conditions really well. Every game’s been slightly different, and we’re playing the conditions extremely well,’ he added.
The change came despite both England and India being level on 269 rating points. With England completing another dominant result against Sri Lanka, Brook was named Player of the Series after collecting 170 runs across the three matches. His campaign included an unbeaten 114 in the opening T20I, followed by 23 in the second game at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. Jofra Archer, Sonny Baker and Will Jacks claimed two wickets each, while Baker’s 2/17 from 3.5 overs earned him the Player of the Match award. India’s latest rankings setback comes despite the team completing a 3-0 T20I series victory over Afghanistan. The result extended India’s recent winning run after they also swept Zimbabwe 3-0. 1 earlier in 2026 after defeating India 4-0 in their five match T20I series. The ICC confirmed at the time that England’s victory ended India’s more than 1,600 day run at the summit, which had begun in February 2022.
The ranking picture has changed considerably since England previously moved above India.
