Babar Azam tops ICC T20I rankings

Babar Azam tops ICC T20I rankings: Pakistan top-order batsman jumps five spots to attain the No. 1 spot in the ICC T20I Rankings.

Having scored 163 runs in three matches at an average of 81.50 and a strike rate of 117.26 in a ‘Man of the Series’ effort, Pakistan batsman Babar Azam has attained the No. 1 spot in the ICC T20I Rankings for batsmen. The 24-year old batsmen jumped five spots to attain the position.

Among the Pakistani bowlers who were part of their team drubbing Australia 3-0 yesterday were Shadab Khan (No. 2), Imad Wasim (No. 10), Faheem Ashraf (No. 16) and Hasan Ali (No. 21).

Australia’s Billy Stanlake, who was the highest wicket-taker for his team in the series, dropped down to No. 9.

England’s recent 30-run victory in the one-off T20I against Sri Lanka at Colombo saw two of their cricketers entering the Top 10 rankings. Jason Roy, who was the pick of English batsmen in the match, scoring his fourth T20I half-century,  jumped five spots to No. 9. He had scored 69 (36) with the help of four fours and six sixes.

Adil Rashid, who picked up bowling figures of 4-0-11-3, remained at No. 5.

Among the Indian cricketers, Lokesh Rahul (No. 3) and Rohit Sharma (No. 10) are among the Top 10 Batsmen. While Rahul maintained his spot, Sharma entered the Top 10 recently. With 671 points to his name, captain Virat Kohli is at No. 13.

Former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was recently dropped from the T20I squad, is at No. 54.

Among the bowlers, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has maintained his spot at No. 4. Something which might not please the Indian fans is the fact that the next best on the list is Jasprit Bumrah (No. 26).

In the all-rounders list, no change was witnessed in the Top 10 rankings. Surprisingly, discarded India batsman Suresh Raina (No. 13) is their top-ranked all-rounder. More surprisingly, the next best is Kohli (No. 17).

Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on the ICC rankings below: