ICC T20I Rankings: Dawid Malan overtakes Babar Azam, becomes number 1 batsman

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England middle-order batsman Dawid Malan surpasses Pakistan’s Babar Azam to become the highest-ranked batsman in the Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). After a tremendous home series against Australia, the southpaw jumped a few places to achieve the number one spot for the first time.

Dawid Malan might be struggling to secure his position in England’s full strength T20I side but, he managed to create history against the Aussies. The 33-year old smashed 129 runs in the 3-match series with the top score of 66 runs.

Before Malan, Pakistan’s top batsman Babar Azam held the number one spot for quite some time. Malan piped Azam’s rating of 869 points and is currently placed at the pole position with 877 rating points.

Malan’s teammates Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler also climbed up in the T20I batsmen rankings. Bairstow gained three slots to reach a career-best 19th position while Buttler has moved from 40th to 28th spot. The latter also won the ‘Man of the Series’ award after scoring 121 runs in two matches.

For Australia, skipper Aaron Finch’s 125 runs in the series helped him retain the third position. Their explosive batsman Glenn Maxwell also holds on to his sixth position among batsmen while gaining one slot to reach the second position in the list of all-rounders.

Latest ICC Men’s T20I Batsmen Rankings

Rank	Player	Country	Rating
1	Dawid Malan	England	877
2	Babar Azam	Pakistan	869
3	Aaron Finch	Australia	835
4	KL Rahul	India	824
5	Colin Munro	New Zealand	785
6	Glenn Maxwell	Australia	696
7	Hazratullah	Afghanistan	676
8	Ewin Lewis	West Indies	674
9	Virat Kohli	India	673
10	Eoin Morgan	England	671

Adil Rashid moves to seventh spot

England leg-spinner Adil Rashid also saw a gain of two slots to reach the seventh position in the bowlers’ rankings. He finished the series as the most successful bowler with six wickets while Australia left-arm spinner Ashton Agar’s five wickets have helped him retain his third spot.

Australian pacer Kane Richardson also broke into the top 10 rankings for the first time in his career. The 29-year old claimed three scalps in the series while his partner-in-crime Mitchell Starc (up by seven places to 18th) and opposition’s Mark Wood (up 41 places to 79th) have also made notable gains.

Latest ICC Men’s T20I Bolwers Rankings

Rank	Player	Country	Rating
1	Rashid Khan	Afghanistan	736
2	Mujeeb Ur Rahman	Afghanistan	730
3	Ashton Agar	Australia	706
4	Tabraiz Shamsi	South Africa	681
5	Adam Zampa	Australia	679
6	Mitchell Santner	New Zealand	677
7	Adil Rashid	England	676
8	Imad Wasim	Pakistan	665
9	Shadab Khan	Pakistan	651
10	Kane Richardson	Australia	641