Dawid Malan Leapfrogs Four Places To Topple Babar Azam As Numer One T20I Batsman

Malan who led the run scoring efforts in England's 2-1 series win over Australia in the recently concluded T20 series reaped dividends from his consistent run with the bat to as the top ranked batsman in T20 cricket.

England's Dawid Malan dethroned Pakistan's Babar Azam as the Number One T20 international batsman in the world as the International Cricket Council (ICC) released the latest T20I rankings for players and team's on Thursday. Malan who led the run scoring efforts in England's 2-1 series win over Australia in the recently concluded 3-match T20I series reaped dividends from his consistent run with the bat to establish himself as the top ranked batsman in T20 international cricket. Malan came up with scores of 66, 44 and 21 in the T20I series against arch rivals Australia to guide England to a 2-1 series victory.

???? Dawid Malan rises to No.1 ????

The England batsman, who topped the run-scoring charts in the #ENGvAUS series, has jumped four places on the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's T20I Rankings ???? pic.twitter.com/rLvECHFigb — ICC (@ICC) September 9, 2020

The Yorkshire batsman, whose previous career best ranking was second in November last year, has a eight points lead over Pakistan's batting spearhead Babar Azam, while Australia skipper Aaron Finch, who also had a good run with the bat amassing 125 runs in the series, remains third. Among the other notable names, India’s KL Rahul dropped two spots to fall to number four. While Glenn Maxwell also held on to his sixth position among batsmen while gaining one slot to reach second position in the list of all-rounders led by Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi. Among the bowlers, England's leg-spinner Adil Rashid, jumped two places to reach the seventh position after ending the series as the most successful bowler with six wickets. Meanwhile, Australia's left-arm spinner Ashton Agar held onto his third spot after picking up five wickets against the English in the 3-match T20 series. The Afghanistan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman.

↗️ Adil Rashid ???????????????????????????? ↘️ Adam Zampa ????????

Contrasting fortunes for the England and Australia leg-spinners in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's T20I Rankings for bowlers. pic.twitter.com/yfhYtTq0hI — ICC (@ICC) September 9, 2020

Australia fast bowler Kane Richardson has moved into the top 10 for the first time in his career after taking three wickets in the series. Meanwhile Australia reclaimed the top spot in the team’s rankings despite losing the three-match series.Australia were 0-2 down in the series and were playing for pride at the Ageas Bowl.