Huge boost for India cricketers in latest ICC T20I rankings; Babar Azam stays No.1 batter

Aug 11, 2022

Huge boost for India cricketers in latest ICC T20I rankings; Babar Azam stays No.1 batter Image

Despite several Indian stars making significant advancements on the most recent ICC Men's Player Rankings, which were revealed on Wednesday, Pakistani captain Babar Azam has been able to maintain his No. 1 batting position in Twenty20 internationals. 

In the just concluded T20I series against the West Indies, India easily won 4-1, and several of their top players reduced Babar's lead atop the batter rankings.

Before the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, the competition for the top spot has heated up, and Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were among the greatest movers. Iyer smacked a strong 50 during the fifth and final game of the series in Florida, and as a result, he moved up six spots to the 19th spot overall on the batter rankings. 

With 115 runs, Pant concluded the series as the series' second-highest run scorer, and his quick-fire 44 in the fourth game propelled him up the rankings to number 59.

The series' top run-scorer, emerging opener Suryakumar Yadav, had 135 runs, but his opportunity to pass Babar at the top of the standings was lost when he was rested for the decisive game. 

Babar now has a lead of 13 rating points over Yadav, who is now in second place in the T20I rankings, before the keenly anticipated match between India and Pakistan at the Asia Cup in Dubai later this month. 

A number of India's bowlers were also rewarded during the series against the West Indies with significant advancements in the most recent T20I rankings for bowlers.

With eight wickets during the series, young spinner Ravi Bishnoi led India in wicket-taking, propelling the 21-year-old up 50 spots to 44th position overall on the most recent list of bowlers. 

Significant advancements were made by teammates Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav, but veteran quick Bhuvneshwar Kumar fell one spot to ninth with only three wickets in the West Indies series. 

A number of South Africa's players were rewarded for their recent 2-0 series victory over Ireland away from home in the most current T20I rankings, with in-form opener Reeza Hendricks moving up two spots to 13th on the list for batters.

Spinner Keshav Maharaj climbs ten ranks to claim the 18th slot overall among bowlers, while South Africa teammate Dwaine Pretorius rises seven spaces to claim the 26th spot among all-rounders. 

No red-ball matches were played over the last week, therefore there were no adjustments to the Test rankings. However, there were some modest changes to the ODI rankings after the first two games of the series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

The 36-year-old veteran all-rounder Sikandar Raza has been a guiding star for Zimbabwe recently and has made some eye-catching moves on the most current ODI rankings. 

Raza has hit two straight undefeated hundreds against Bangladesh, which has helped him move up the rankings for batters and all-rounders by an amazing 10 and 7 points, respectively.