Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Friday, October 29, climbed to the No.1 spot in the ICC Men’s T20I batting rankings, with Wanindu Hasaranga atop with the ball for the very first time in his career.
Babar has performed a pivotal function in Pakistan’s T20 World Cup charge, making 198 runs throughout 4 innings, averaging 66 at a strike rate of 124.52.
Babar’s push beyond Dawid Malan
Sitting in 2nd in the last week’s rankings, Babar moved up 14 points (to 834), pushing beyond Dawid Malan, who slid from 831 to 798.
Pakistan has made the best possible start to the ICC T20 World Cup tournament, securing wins in all of their first 4 matches in style with Babar on the helm.
Jos Buttler’s moves up to 9th
Further within the batting rankings, Jos Buttler went up by 8 positions to move to 9th off the back of his 214 runs in UAE – the maximum in the tournament. Aaron Finch (733 points) has moved up three places to 3rd.
Other big batsmen
Other huge climbers with the bat consist of Jason Roy (as much as 5 locations to 14th), David Miller shifting up six locations to 33rd, and South African captain Temba Bavuma, jumping 35 spots to 52nd at the list.
There became additionally a change on the top of the T20I bowling rankings, with Wanindu Hasaranga overtaking Group 1 tournament rival Tabraiz Shamsi of South Africa.
Hasaranga’s hattrick
Taking 14 wickets in Sri Lanka’s seven T20 World Cup matches so far, Hasaranga claimed a hat-trick against South Africa, at an economy of a mere 5.26 RPO.
Other massive improvements consist of South Africa’s Anrich Nortje (up 18 spots to 7th), teammate Dwaine Pretorius (up by 65 spots to 34th), and Shoriful Islam of Bangladesh, jumping 77 places to 38th.
