Babar Azam has moved up one spot in the ICC T20I batting rankings to fourth position following a successful series against New Zealand, narrowing the gap to Suryakumar Yadav at the top with a month to go before the T20 World Cup.

Newly re-appointed as T20I captain ahead of the series, Babar finished as his side’s leading run scorer. He scored 125 runs at an average of 31.25 and a strike rate of 138.88. New Zealand’s Mark Chapman pipped Babar to the overall leading run scorer spot by just one run, with the Black Caps securing a series draw with wins in the third and fourth matches. Babar scored a half-century in the final match of the series to ensure the scoreline finished 2-2.

Now on 763 ranking points, Babar has moved past Aiden Markram to fourth position in the ICC table, with only 21 points separating him from Mohammad Rizwan in third. Ahead of the Pakistan pair is Suryakumar in first position and Phil Salt in second. Suryakumar became the No.1 ranked T20I batter in the world during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, and has retained the position ever since. However, Babar’s move ahead of the upcoming edition of the tournament means less than 100 points now separate first from fourth position.

New Zealand batters also made moves in the rankings after their series in Pakistan, with the most eye-catching being Tim Seifert. The opening batter scored a half-century in the fifth T20I of the series, and has subsequently jumped seven places to equal 17th alongside Travis Head.

In the bowling rankings, Shaheen Shah Afridi has moved up three places to equal 14th with Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi. Mitchell Santner, who didn’t feature in the series in Pakistan, has moved down two places to 17th.

ICC player rankings

Batting

1 Suryakumar Yadav – 861
2 Phil Salt – 802
3 Mohammad Rizwan – 784
4 Babar Azam – 763
5 Aiden Markram – 755
6 Yashasvi Jaiswal – 714
7 Rilee Rossouw – 689
8 Jos Buttler – 680
9 Reeza Hendricks – 660
10 Dawid Malan – 657

Bowling

1 Adil Rashid – 726
2 Wanindu Hasaranga – 687
3 Akeal Hosein – 664
4 Axar Patel – 660
5 Maheesh Theekshana – 659
= Ravi Bishnoi – 659
7 Josh Hazlewood – 654
= Tabraiz Shamsi – 654
9 Rashid Khan – 645
10 Reece Topley – 643

Allrounders

1 Mohammad Nabi – 320
2 Shakib Al Hasan – 292
3 Sikandar Raza – 288
4 Assad Vala – 248
5 Rashid Khan – 239
6 Glenn Maxwell – 237
= Gerhard Erasmus – 237
8 Zeeshan Maqsood – 235
9 Mitchell Santner – 233
10 Mehidy Hasan – 230

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