The Twenty20 rankings are launched with England on top

The official Twenty20 rankings has been launched by the ICC with England on the top of the rankings. Eoin Morgan is the number 1 Twenty20 batsman while Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis is the number Twenty20 bowler.

The rankings shown on the picture were released today with the support of many cricketers. The only Test nation not included in the rankings, Bangladesh aren't in the rankings due to the lack of games played by them. But the Bangladesh captain isn't affected by this saying," This is one format of the game which is still very new to us as we don't play that many T20s but potentially we have the making of a formidable T20I side."

"Our win against the West Indies recently proves that we can push a team full of T20 experts. The experience within the side is growing thanks to Shakib (Al Hasan) and Tamim (Iqbal) who have now participated in top club level T20 competitions. We have some naturally attacking batsmen which is an advantage and I am really looking forward to more games and entering the table.

"When someone like Shakib becomes the world's leading all-rounder and regularly features in the top 10 of the Test and ODI rankings, this inspires the rest of us and we want to emulate the feat. Naturally, now we will get the opportunity to make our mark in T20s also and that can be an exciting prospect for us."

Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain and keen supporter about the idea said, ""We already have the Test rankings and the ODI rankings so it's quite logical and practical to have T20I rankings as well.

"T20Is have a huge fan base and have caught on quite well with the crowds. Now with rankings the spectators are sure to have ‘a lot more to shout about'.

"It is important to have rankings in all formats of the game so that teams and players have incentives and goalposts to drive them. Representing our region and our people is a huge motivating factor - the number-one motivating factor - and with the rankings being introduced, that adds a bit more ‘edge'.

"As we have stated before, our aim as a team is to be inside the top five in all formats of the game by 2015. We are looking to build a core of players and build a team which can achieve this goal."

With Associate and Affiliate sides able to take part in the Twenty20 rankings, Afghanistan was the big shock being in 9th in the rankings ahead of Zimbabwe. Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan stand-in captain, said in the focus of youth talent for the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka, "We brought some youngsters here while the seniors were in the UAE, so we have a good back-up and youngsters get the chance to learn something, and I am happy that they learnt a lot"

Twenty20 All rounders

ICC Player Rankings
Rank	Name	Country	Rating
1	S.R. Watson	AUS	385
2	Shahid Afridi	PAK	339
3	D.J. Hussey	AUS	316
4	Mohammad Hafeez	PAK	246
5	C.H. Gayle	WI	194
6	Yuvraj Singh	IND	182
7	J.H. Kallis	SA	179
8	T.M. Dilshan	SL	169
9	J.A. Morkel	SA	164
10	Abdul Razzaq	PAK	163
	Top 10

Twenty20 Batsmen

ICC Player Rankings
Rank	Name	Country	Rating
1	E.J.G. Morgan	ENG	832
2	B.B. McCullum	NZ	799
3	K.P. Pietersen	ENG	793
4	D.P.M.D. Jayawardena	SL	784
5	S. Raina	IND	742
6	T.M. Dilshan	SL	733
7	K.C. Sangakkara	SL	732
8	Umar Akmal	PAK	714
9	S.R. Watson	AUS	701
10	G.C. Smith	SA	700
	Top 100

Twenty20 Bowlers

ICC Player Rankings
Rank	Name	Country	Rating
1	B.A.W. Mendis	SL	748
2	G.P. Swann	ENG	727
3	Saeed Ajmal	PAK	721
4	N.L. McCullum	NZ	711
5	J. Botha	SA	703
6	Shahid Afridi	PAK	689
7	S.W. Tait	AUS	682
8	D.J.G. Sammy	. WI	671
9	Harbhajan Singh	IND	653
10	S.L. Malinga	SL	652
	Top 100