Babar Azam played a crucial role in whitewashing the Australians in the 3-match T20I series and as an outcome, the ICC rankings paid him off. The Pakistani opener became World No 1 in the latest T20I batsmen rankings following his scores of 68*, 45 and 50.
Pakistan hammered Australia by 33 runs on Sunday to capture the T20I rubber 3-0. Azam turned out to be the highest run-getter of the series, amassing 163 runs from three outings at a strike rate of 117.26. His terrific performance lifted him from No.5 to No.1, pushing down Aaron Finch to 2nd position and his teammate Fakhar Zaman to the fifth spot.
Another big move in the top 10 list has been made by English opener Jason Roy. He grabbed the 9th position after his superb 36-ball 69 in England’s 30-run win over Sri Lanka in the one-off T20I clash.
But above all, the latest bowlers’ T20I rankings is the most surprising factor at the moment. A bunch of leg-spinners from 5 different nations have captured the top 5 rankings. Rashid Khan, Shadab Khan, Ish Sodhi and Yuzvendra Chahal are in the top four and were joined by Adil Rashid as the new No.5.
A lot of other bowlers have climbed up too, including Pakistan’s Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali, and Australia’s Adam Zampa. But there were two other new faces in the top 10 – Billy Stanlake and Imad Wasim.
Further, if we put an eye on the next five bowlers, it is completely surprising that there exists only one pacer. The latest addition on the top 10 list is Imad Wasim who grabbed the 10th position. On the other hand, West Indies’ Samuel Badree and veteran Sout African leggie Imran Tahir have retained their positions at No.7 and No.8 respectively.