India batter Suryakumar Yadav has been performing consistently and he pushed himself towards becoming the best T20I batter in the world. He scored 46 runs in the T20 match against Australia in Mohali on Tuesday which helped him get closer to Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan at the top of the T20I batter rankings. He played a valuable 25-ball 46-run innings for the team.
The right-hander leaped right in front of Pakistan skipper Babar Azam at the third spot on the ICC T20I rankings for batters on Wednesday. Rizwan smashed a half-century against England on Tuesday and therefore he has an advantage at the top of the chart with a career-high total of 825 rating points.
In the World Cup which is less than a month away, Aiden Markram (792) and Yadav (780), both of whom are within striking distance, will get a fair chance to make a run for the top spot. Babar dropped to the fourth spot on the latest rankings after his below-average performance in the recently concluded Asia Cup in the UAE and a return of 31 against England in the series opener in Karachi, while England’s Dawid Malan (725) and Australia skipper Aaron Finch (715) round out a top six.
A host of India and Australia players made significant ground on the latest set of T20I rankings, while England and Pakistan players also caught the eye. Explosive India star Hardik Pandya zoomed up 22 places to 65th overall on the batter rankings following his superb unbeaten 71 against the Aussies, while team-mate Axar Patel shot up 24 spots to 33rd on the list for bowlers after he collected three wickets during the same match.