England are back at the top of the ICC men’s T20I team rankings after completing a 3-0 series sweep of Sri Lanka. The eight-wicket win in the third T20I at Old Trafford on Saturday knocked India off the number one spot.

Both teams are tied on 269 rating points, but England edge ahead on the finer calculation: they have 11,021 points from 41 matches against India’s 17,201 from 64 games.

How England sealed it

Chasing a modest 125 for victory, England romped home in just 9.4 overs. Sri Lanka had collapsed to 124 all out with seven balls of their innings unused, undone by a disciplined bowling display in which Sonny Baker, Jofra Archer, and Will Jacks took two wickets each.

Jos Buttler led the chase with an unbeaten 62 from 32 balls, while captain Harry Brook contributed 33. It was England’s 15th consecutive T20I win over Sri Lanka, and the series never looked in doubt after the hosts won the opener by 119 runs.

A see-saw battle for No. 1

This is the second time this year that England have taken the top spot from India. They had briefly claimed it after beating India 4-0 in a home series earlier in the year, only for India, the winners of the last two T20 World Cups, to reclaim it with a series win over Zimbabwe.

India also blanked Afghanistan 3-0 this week, but the result was not enough to protect their position once England completed the whitewash.

Brook’s remarkable record

Since Harry Brook took over as captain in 2024, England have won 23 of their 26 T20I matches, a run of dominance rarely seen in the format. Brook finished as the player of the series against Sri Lanka.

India, meanwhile, will get their chance to hit back soon as they prepare to defend their gold medal at the Asian Games. With both sides locked on 269 rating points, the battle for the top spot is far from over.