Babar Azam dethrones Dawid Malan, returns as top T20I batter

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam dethroned England’s Dawid Malan to return to the number one spot in the ICC’s T20 rankings while the team rises to the number two spot.

“Pakistan captain Babar Azam has returned to the top of the batting table in the latest ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings, which were released by the game’s governing body on Wednesday afternoon,” said the PCB in a statement.

Last week, Babar was just 11 points short of catching up to Dawid Malan who was ranked number one with 831 points.

“Since the last announcement, Babar has notched up half-centuries against Afghanistan (51) and Namibia (70), whereas Dawid Malan had scores of eight against Australia and six against Sri Lanka in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” explained the PCB.

Cricket’s governing body in Pakistan said that the “contrasting performances in the past week” helped Babar overturn the 11-point deficit into a 36-point lead over Malan.

“As such, Babar is now the only batter to sit inside the 800-point mark on 834 points, while Malan has slipped to 798 points,” said the PCB.

This is the sixth time Babar has surged to the top of the T20I batting charts and is already ranked number one in ODIs and seventh in Tests.

“Babar’s return to the No 1 T20I ranking has come in the same week when Pakistan leapfrogged India into second position following their five wickets victory over Afghanistan in Dubai,” read the statement. The Men-in-Green now sit at the number two spot with 265 points, while India slips to 262 points after back to back defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand. Currently, England are ranked number 1 with 279 points.

“It is a good little motivation to be back on top of the T20I rankings. But the bigger picture is these performances have helped Pakistan to rise to No 2 and become the first side to qualify for the semifinals of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021,” Babar was quoted by PCB in the statement.

Other players rise in rankings

Apart from Babar, Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan is now just two points away from breaking into the top three.

“Last week, he trailed South Africa’s fourth-ranked Aiden Markram by 16 points. In the latest rankings, Markram has swapped places with Australia captain Aaron Finch who is now third on 733 points, while Markram has dropped to sixth on 712 points. Rizwan is sitting fourth on 731 points,” said the statement.

On the other hand, left-handed Fakhar Zaman has gained two places and is now 45th, Mohammad Hafeez has jumped five places to 54th and Asif Ali has vaulted 30 places to 171st.

Among the bowlers, Imad Wasim has jumped 10 places to sit at the 26th and Hasan Ali has moved up four places to 63rd.

Meanwhile, Shaheen Shah Afridi remains Pakistan highest-ranked bowler in 13th position, followed by Haris Rauf, who has slipped three places to 20th.

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