T20 World Cup 2021: Wanindu Hasaranga becomes top-ranked T20I bowler, Babar Azam dethrones Dawid Malan to become No. 1 batter
Pakistan's Babar Azam and Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga have attained the top spots in the ICC T20I Rankings for batters and bowlers, respectively.
Azam displaced England's Dawid Malan at the top following his brilliant knocks for Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. Hasaranga, meanwhile, leapfrogged Tabraiz Shamsi to reach the No. 1 position for the first time in his career.
Babar Azam is the new No.1 batter on the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men’s T20I rankings, while Wanindu Hasaranga has claimed top spot on the bowling rankings for the first time 👏
#T20WorldCup https://t.co/zoCVVJIPze
Babar Azam has taken a 36-point lead over Dawid Malan in the rankings. The Pakistani skipper is the only batter with more than 800 rating points.
Australian skipper Aaron Finch climbed three spots to attain the third spot, while South Africa's Aiden Markram dropped three positions. After his fantastic performances against Australia and Sri Lanka, Jos Buttler also broke into the Top 10 of the batting charts.
In the bowlers' rankings, Hasaranga (776) has a six-point lead over Shamsi (770). Elsewhere, Adil Rashid replaced Rashid Khan in the Top 3, while South African pacer Anrich Nortje climbed 18 places to the seventh spot.
New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi gained six places and is now in the 10th position. Chris Jordan also rose up the rankings and broke into the Top 10.
Babar Azam and Wanindu Hasaranga are not the only Asians to become attain top spot in the T20I rankings
Along with Babar Azam and Wanindu Hasaranga, Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi has also reached the top of the ICC T20I Rankings. Nabi has 271 rating points to his name in the all-rounders' rankings after his fine performances in T20 World Cup 2021. He jointly holds the top spot with Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
England's Liam Livingstone, meanwhile, climbed a whopping 57 places to break into the Top 10 of the all-rounders' rankings, while Australia's Glenn Maxwell slipped to seventh position.
India have had a dismal T20 World Cup thus far and that's reflected in the rankings. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are the only Indians present in the Top 10 of any of the T20I rankings.