Babar Azam rises to third spot in ICC T20I ranking

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has jumped a spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's T20 players rankings, while his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan retained the second position as per the latest update.

Babar and Rizwan will have the opportunity to close the gap on India’s Suryakumar Yadav, who is placed at the top position and is currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), since the duo will be in action during the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which starts on April 14 in Lahore.

“Babar moved up to third on the rankings that were updated by the ICC on Wednesday and will get a further opportunity to make inroads on Suryakumar when Pakistan commence their five-game T20I series against New Zealand on Saturday,” the ICC stated.

“While Suryakumar currently holds a commanding lead at the top of the T20I rankings for batters with 906 rating points, second-placed Rizwan (811) and third-placed Babar (755) could make gains while the India star is plying his trade in the IPL.

“Ironically, it was Devon Conway's absence from New Zealand's series against Sri Lanka that led to Babar improving one place to third on the latest set of rankings, with the Kiwi batter also at the IPL with the Chennai Super Kings.”

No Pakistan player is in the top 10 of the ICC bowler’s rankings in T20Is, with all-rounder Shadab Khan being the highest-ranked in 12th place.

Shadab is also the only Pakistan player in top 10 of the all-rounder’s rankings for T20I after securing fourth place.