Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam has climbed up the ICC Men’s T20 players rankings, moving up one spot to third position. His opening partner Mohammad Rizwan held on to his second position, while India’s Suryakumar Yadav remains on top with 906 rating points. Babar and Rizwan have an opportunity to reduce the gap with Yadav during the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, starting on April 14 in Lahore.
Babar’s move up in the rankings was caused by New Zealand’s Devon Conway’s absence from the series against Sri Lanka, causing him to slip down two places to fifth. South Africa’s Aiden Markram took fourth place. No Pakistani player is currently in the top 10 of the ICC bowler’s rankings in T20Is, with all-rounder Shadab Khan being the highest-ranked in 12th place. Shadab is also the only Pakistani player in the top 10 of the all-rounder’s rankings for T20I after securing fourth place.
In the bowler rankings, Maheesh Theekshana rose to fifth, while his teammate Wanindu Hasaranga fell two places to fourth after their contrasting performances in the recent T20I series against New Zealand. Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi (second) and Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood (third) climbed a spot as a result of Hasaranga’s drop. Afghanistan now holds the top two spots on the T20I bowlers’ charts, with spinner Rashid Khan leading Fazal Haq Farooqi in a close contest for the top spot.
