Pakistan’s Babar Azam has edged closer to India’s Suryakumar Yadav in the ICC Men’s T20I batter rankings after leading his team to a series draw against New Zealand.
Babar Azam climbs the rankings
Babar emerged as Pakistan’s top run-getter in the thrilling series, which concluded tied at 2-2. He showed his batting skills with a half-century in the fifth T20I, accumulating a total of 125 runs from four innings at the top of Pakistan’s batting order. Notably, Pakistan secured victory in the fifth T20I after the first match was abandoned due to rain.
Babar’s batting performance propelled him to climb one spot to fourth on the latest list of T20I rankings for batters, elevating his rating by 10 points to 763. With this surge, Suryakumar now holds just a 98-point lead over the Pakistan skipper. This development adds an intriguing dynamic to the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, set to commence on June 1.
Phil Salt from England has moved up to the third spot in the rankings, scoring 802 rating points. He’s 18 points ahead of Mohammad Rizwan, who is now fourth.
Tim Seifert’s exceptional performance
Tim Seifert of New Zealand caught everyone’s attention, climbing seven spots to reach joint seventh position in the rankings. He scored a total of 85 runs in the series, maintaining a respectable strike rate of 144.06.
Both Pakistani and New Zealand players saw a rise in the updated T20I bowlers’ rankings. Pakistan’s pace bowler, Shaheen Afridi, moved up three spots to claim the 14th position. This climb comes after his impressive performance, securing eight wickets across four matches against New Zealand