Dawid Malan becomes the new number one batsman in T20I cricket

England’s Dawid Malan has usurped Pakistan’s Babar Azam to capture the number one spot in T20I batsmen’s rankings. The left-hander has been in a stellar form and remained consistent with the bat in six matches that England played against Pakistan and Australia respectively. The 33-year old batsman is now eight rating points ahead of Azam who now occupies the second spot.

? Dawid Malan rises to No.1 ?

The England batsman, who topped the run-scoring charts in the #ENGvAUS series, has jumped four places on the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men’s T20I Rankings ? pic.twitter.com/rLvECHFigb

— ICC (@ICC) September 9, 2020

Malan aggregated 213 runs in the last six T20I encounters. He struck a fifty each against Pakistan and Australia respectively. In his T20I career, he has played 16 matches in which he has added 682 with an average of 48.71 while striking at 146.66 runs in every 100 balls. Malan had reached the second spot in November last year but now he has finally taken the top spot.

Other English batsmen, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler have also jumped up in the rankings after the latest update. Bairstow has moved up three slots to reach his career-best 19th position while his opening partner Jos Buttler has moved from 40th to 28th after his Player of the Series performance against Australia.

Also read: ENG vs AUS: 3rd T20I – Australia regain the top spot with a victory

Australian captain Aaron Finch added 125 runs in the three-match series and remains firm at the third position. Glenn Maxwell continued to occupy the sixth position among batsmen. England leg-spinner Adil Rashid has jumped up two slots to reach the seventh position in the bowling rankings after finishing as the most successful bowler in the series with six wickets. Australian left-arm spinner Ashton Agar who snapped up five wickets has retained the third position, behind the Afghan spin pair of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman.