Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan eye for top spot in latest ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings

The race for number one batting position in the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings continues between Pakistan duo Mohammed Rizwan and his captain, Babar Azam.

The pair hold second and third place respectively in the rankings, behind India’s Suryakumar Yadav, who comfortably occupies number one with 906 rating points. Rizwan sits with 811 points, with Babar on 755.

A new number one could emerge at the conclusion of Pakistan’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand beginning on Saturday.

Meanwhile, New Zealand opening batter, Tim Seifert, soared 1 245 slots to 36^th after hitting back-to-back half-centuries in his side’s victorious, 2-1 home series against Sri Lanka over the past week.

The Islanders’ spinner, Maheesh Theekshana leaped five places to a career-best number five spot in the bowling list, sharing his place with England’s Adil Rashid. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan continues to inhabit the top position with 710 rating points but is also closely followed by his teammate, Fazalhoq Farooqi, with 692 points in second place.

The MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings saw few movements following Bangladesh’s match against Ireland. Only Mushfiqur Rahim made significant gains in the batting list, moving up five slots from 22^nd to 17^th. Ireland’s Lorcan Tucker and Harry Tector made their first entries to the list in 70^th and 90^th place respectively.

India’s Ravichandran Ashwin continues to lead the bowling list, with the only significant movements coming from Bangladesh’s duo of Taijul Islam who slid three places to 20^th and newly announced ICC Men’s Player of the Month and skipper, Shakib Al Hassan skipping two places to number 26.

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off saw the rise of several Associate Member players in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings.

While Babar continues his reign over the batting list, the USA’s Steven Taylor jumped leaped 13 slots to 61^st, with the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Muhammad Waseem jumping 12 spots to 65^th, with his teammate Asif Khan going up nine places to 88^th. Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Tony Ura rose six places to reach his career-best place of 93^rd.

Namibia’s Ruben Trumpelmann now also occupies a personal best place of number 41 in the bowling list which is led by Australia’s Josh Hazlewood at 705 points.