West Indies have jumped into top position in the International Cricket Council's Twenty20 rankings while Australia are now in equal second spot after Sri Lanka's 2-0 series loss to New Zealand.

The Black Caps thumped the reigning World T20 champions Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the second Twenty20 International in Auckland on Sunday, following a narrow three-run victory in the first match on Friday.

Watch: Munro smashes second-fastest T20 fifty against Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka slipped to second in the rankings as a result, level on Australia with 118 rankings points, while splitting results down to decimal points put the West Indies marginally ahead on 118.36.

Quick single: Munro, Guptill savage Sri Lanka attack

The Windies have played eight T20s since the last World T20 in early 2014, winning four of them including a record 232-run chase against South Africa last January, while Sri Lanka have lost four of their last six matches.

While West Indies were without many of their biggest names in the Commonwealth Bank Test series against Australia, many of their stars were available for their international T20 outings in 2015 including Melbourne Renegades allrounder Dwayne Bravo, Sydney Thunder import Andre Russell and Hobart Hurricanes star Darren Sammy.

Watch: Caught Behind: Breaking the Windies

Despite their troubles in the longest format of the game, the Windies have enjoyed success in the T20 arena, claiming the 2012 World T20 and defeating Australia in the 2014 tournament.

Australia will have the opportunity to leap into top spot when they play India in the three-match KFC Twenty International series later this month, which begins in Adelaide on January 26.

India presently sit in eighth spot on the rankings, on 110 points, England (117), South Africa (115), New Zealand and Pakistan (both 114) are breathing down the necks of the top three teams.

Quick single: Finch won't rule out T20 veterans

Aaron Finch's men played just one T20I in 2015 – a five-run loss to England in September – but will see plenty of the shortest form of the game in the next few months, with three games against South Africa ahead of the World T20 in India in March.

The ICC's rankings system is based on assigning points for every match played, averaged over a three-year period. Older results are given less weighting (50 per cent) than matches played in the last 12 months.

ICC T20 rankings