Several Pakistani players have witnessed improvement in their positions in the latest T20 rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The recent ICC rankings have seen Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam, with a rating of 763, jumping one spot to secure the fourth spot on the list — just one below his teammate and Green Shirts wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan who is ranked as the third-best T20 batsman in the world.
Babar’s improvement in the rankings follows his impressive performance in the recently concluded home series against New Zealand where he finished as the highest run-scorer with 125 runs.
The ICC’s T20 batter’s list, which is topped by India’s Suryakumar Yadav followed by England’s Phil Salt in first and second positions, respectively, doesn’t include any Pakistani in the top 50.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Aiden Markram (5th), Rilee Rossouw (7th) along with England’s Jos Buttler (8th) and Dawid Malan (10th) are included in the top 10 T20 batters.
Also, New Zealand’s Tim Seifert improved seven places to equal seventh after accumulating 85 runs in the series against Pakistan at a strike rate of 144.06.
Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman also improved 10 places to 62nd after his 104 runs during the series against New Zealand.
In bowling, pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi rose three places to equal 14th following his eight wickets across four matches against New Zealand.
Imad Wasim, who recently took back retirement, also jumped 10 places to 22nd in the T20I all-rounders rankings.
Michael Bracewell (up 13 spots to 55th) and Ben Sears (up 29 places to 60th) also improved their positions on the list for T20I bowlers.
With England’s Adil Rashid ranked as the best T20 bowler, the second and third positions are secured by Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga and West Indies’ Akeal Hosein.
India’s Axar Patel and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan are ranked fourth and ninth, respectively. Whereas Australia’s Josh Hazlewood has secured the seventh position.
Pakistan’s Shadab Khan is ranked as the 10th-best all-rounder with the category topped by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan securing the first position.