Pakistan star Mohammad Rizwan has acquired the numero uno position at the ICC Men’s T20I rankings for batters by overtaking his team-mate and captain Babar Azam.
The ICC released the latest Men’s rankings on Wednesday and Rizwan jumped one place to take over Babar at the top on the back of his spectacular performances of 78* off 57 against Hong Kong in the group stage and 71 off 51 against India in Super 4s of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022.
In three matches thus far, Rizwan has amassed 192 runs at an average of 96 and a strike rate of 128 with the help of two half-centuries. Rizwan’s rise to the top spot also happened due to Babar’s slump, with the Pakistan captain scoring just 33 runs in three matches at the multi-team event in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
For India, Suryakumar Yadav is the top-ranked batter in the rankings, placing fourth after Rizwan, Babar and South Africa’s Aiden Markram. India skipper Rohit Sharma has moved to 13th position, jumping four places, after scoring 72 off 41 against Sri Lanka, whereas Virat Kohli rose to 29th place following his 44-ball 60 against Pakistan.
Another major gainer is Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka, who has moved up by a place to number. 8, following his scores of 20, 35 and an impressive 52 to power Sri Lanka to victory against India on Tuesday.
Nissanka’s opening partner Kusal Mendis also took giant steps, advancing 63 positions to reach the 41st spot. Similarly, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka (up 11 places to 39th) and middle-order batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa (up 31 places to 68th) have also progressed in the rankings.