Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam has slid further down the T20 rankings after his lean patch with the bat continued.
The run-machine showed an improved performance in the first T20 international against England after enduring a nightmare of an Asia Cup with the bat, but his innings of 31 was not enough for him to keep ahead of India’s Suryakumar Yadav who overtakes the third spot from Babar Azam in the latest ICC T20 rankings.
Mohammad Rizwan, who broke Azam’s marathon streak of being world number 1, retains his top spot after another half-century against England but is now just 33 points ahead of second-placed Aiden Markram (792 rating points) of South Africa.
Yadava’s rise in the rankings was aided by the quickfire 46 he scored in India’s loss against Australia at Mohali in the opening match of their three-game series on Tuesday.
England’s Dawid Malan (725) and Australia skipper Aaron Finch (715) round out the top six list of batters in T20 cricket.
Meanwhile, England’s Adil Rashid stays in third in the bowler’s rankings and within touching distance of top-ranked Josh Hazlewood and second-placed Tabraiz Shamsi following his two-wicket haul against Pakistan.
Pakistan’s premier fast bowler Haris Rauf makes the biggest jump in bowlers rankings for the green shirts, moving up four spots to 21st on the latest list for T20I bowlers after a strong showing against England, while Mohammad Nawaz has also jumped three places to now sit at the 31st spot.
