Kolkata Knight Riders fast bowler Vaibhav Arora recently conducted a blind ranking of six prominent Indian batters, past and present, ahead of the IPL 2026 season. The exercise began with current India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, whom Arora placed at No. 3. Former World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh followed, and the KKR pacer ranked him just ahead of Suryakumar at No. 2.
Despite being the top-ranked T20I batter, Abhishek Sharma failed to make Arora’s top three and was positioned at No. 5. Former India captain Rohit Sharma came next, and after some thought, Arora elevated him to the top spot. When Virat Kohli was revealed as the final name, Arora slotted him at No. 4, explaining that his earlier choices left him unable to include Kohli in the top three.
The blind-ranking segment featuring some of India’s greatest T20 batters was shared on CricTracker’s Instagram handle. The last name revealed was former KKR captain Shreyas Iyer, who was placed at the bottom of the rankings by default. Arora and Iyer had previously played together during Kolkata Knight Riders’ memorable title-winning campaign in IPL 2024
Performance comparison of Vaibhav Arora’s six ranked batters in T20Is and the IPL
All six players blind-ranked by Vaibhav Arora possess impressive records in both T20Is and the IPL. Rohit Sharma stands as India’s highest run-scorer in T20I cricket with 4,231 runs, while Virat Kohli follows closely with 4,188 runs. The pair also occupy the top two spots on the IPL run charts, with Kohli amassing 8,661 runs and Rohit registering 7,046 runs.
Both batters retired from T20I cricket after playing key roles in India’s second T20 World Cup triumph in 2024. Suryakumar Yadav ranks third among Indian batters in T20Is, having scored 2,788 runs across 99 matches. In the IPL, he sits 16th on the all-time list with 4,311 runs from 166 games.
The only retired player in the group, Yuvraj Singh, is 11th among Indian batters in T20I run-scoring with 1,177 runs. In the IPL, the former all-rounder is placed 36th with 2,750 runs from 132 appearances. Abhishek Sharma, who made his T20I debut midway through 2024, has made a rapid impact, accumulating 1,115 runs in just 33 matches.
He has also closed in on 2,000 IPL runs, scoring 1,816 runs in 77 outings. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer has tallied 1,104 runs in 51 T20Is and 3,731 runs in 133 IPL matches.
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