With Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga atop the ICC Men’s T20I bowling rankings for the first time in his career, Pakistan captain Babar Azam has ascended to No. 1 in the ICC Men’s T20I batting rankings.

Azam, who was previously ranked number one in January 2018, was instrumental in Pakistan’s ICC T20 World Cup campaign, scoring 198 runs in four innings at an average of 66 and a strike rate of 124.52.

He moved up 14 points (to 834) from second place in last week’s rankings, passing England’s Dawid Malan, who dropped from 831 to 798.

With Babar at the helm, Pakistan has had an excellent start to the competition, winning their first four games.
Jos Buttler, England’s wicketkeeper-batsman, jumped eight spots to ninth in the batting rankings after scoring 214 runs in the UAE, the most in the competition. Aaron Finch (733 points) of Australia has climbed three spots to the third position.

Jason Roy (up to five ranks to 14th), David Miller (up to six spaces to 33rd), and South African skipper Temba Bavuma (up 35 spots to 52nd) are all notable climbers with the bat.

There was also a change at the top of the T20I bowling rankings, with Wanindu Hasaranga passing Tabraiz Shamsi of South Africa in Group 1.

Taking 14 wickets in Sri Lanka’s seven T20 World Cup matches thus far, Hasaranga claimed a hat-trick against South Africa, doing his damage at an economy of just 5.26. Other big movers include South Africa’s Anrich Nortje (up 18 spots to 7th), teammate Dwaine Pretorius (up 65 spots to 34th) and Shoriful Islam of Bangladesh, leaping 77 places to 38th.

The closest rival to Hasaranga’s tournament-leading haul is Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, who will miss the rest of the tournament through injury. For now, Shakib still sits atop in the all-rounder rankings, though shares the spot on the podium with Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi. Hasaranga, also making contributions with the bat, has climbed to fourth.

Liam Livingstone’s bowling impact for England has led to a 57-place jump, with Namibia’s David Wiese (up 22 places to 18th) on a quest to join teammate JJ Smit (3rd) in the top-10.