Mohammad Rizwan dethrones Babar Azam as top-ranked T20I batter

Pakistan’s opening batting duo Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, along with India’s Suryakumar Yadav, were involved hotly contested battle for securing the no.1 spot in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings. But Mohammad Rizwan has pulled away from the pack after a run of prolific outings in the ongoing Asia Cup, which sees him topple his compatriot Babar Azam for the top spot in the latest ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings released on Wednesday.

Rizwan is the top run-scorer in the Asia Cup so far with 192 runs, including two fifties in three matches. The opening batter registered the fifties against Hong Kong and India and also made 43 in the first game against India in the tournament. He was placed in the second spot behind his skipper Babar leading up to the tournament. But a series of low scores from the Paksitani skipper coupled with his opening partner’s prolific campaign has seen Rizwan rise to the summit of the rankings with 815 rating points, an increase of 19 points.

Babar Azam and Suryakumar Yadav drop to second and fourth place respectively

Babar has had a horrendous run in the 15th edition of the continental tournament with scores of 10, 9, and 14 in the three matches so far, which saw him drop 16 rating points and move down to second place in the latest rankings. Babar had been occupying the spot at the summit for more than 1,000 days.

Meanwhile, India’s Suryakumar Yadav climbed up to the second spot and came close to taking the top spot during India’s T20I series against the West Indies. But he has dropped to the fourth spot due to poor outings in the last two games.