It’s only the third time a Pakistan batter has topped the charts: before Babar, former Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq had climbed to No.1 back in 2008. According to an ICC release, Babar had occupied the spot for 1,155 days before his opening partner replaced him. To put things into context, Rizwan was ranked 306th in November 2020, his lowest T20I batting rank, before the ascent began. In April this year, he was named the Leading T20 Cricketer in the 2022 Wisden Almanack.

Rizwan has been in exceptional form in the last few years: since the start of 2020, he’s scored more runs than any other batter in T20Is (1,674) at 69.75 and also garnered the most fifty-plus scores (16). In the ongoing Asia Cup, he’s been in prolific touch, scoring 43 & 71 against India, and 78* against Hong Kong. He’s now moved to 18th in the all-time ICC T20I batting charts, with a career-best rating of 815. Among Pakistan batters, only Babar and Fakhar Zaman have a better career rating.

Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka also benefitted from the latest rankings update, moving one place up to No.8, and pushing UAE’s Muhammad Waseem one spot down. In the bowling charts, Akeal Hosein, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Maheesh Theekshana all moved a place each inside the top-10, with Wanindu Hasaranga falling by three places to No.9.

Latest ICC T20I batting rankings

#1 Mohammad Rizwan – 815
#2 Babar Azam – 794
#3 Aiden Markram – 792
#4 Suryakumar Yadav – 775
#5 Dawid Malan – 731
#6 Aaron Finch – 716
#7 Devon Conway – 683
#8 Pathum Nissanka – 675
#9 Muhammad Waseem – 671
#10 Reeza Hendricks – 628

Latest ICC T20I bowling rankings

#1 Josh Hazlewood – 792
#2 Tabraiz Shamsi – 716
#3 Adil Rashid – 702
#4 Rashid Khan – 701
#5 Adam Zampa – 698
#6 Akeal Hosein – 665
#7 Mujeeb Ur Rahman – 665
#8 Maheesh Theekshana – 664
#9 Wanindu Hasaranga – 661
#10 Mitchell Santner – 651