MI's Suryakumar Yadav Retains Top Spot In Latest ICC T20 Batters Rankings; Babar, Rizwan Far Behind

Suryakumar Yadav continues to sit atop the ICC T20 batters rankings despite hundred by Babar Azam in a recent T20 clash vs New Zealand. In the lastest update, Suryakumar with 906 rating points, is more than 100 points clear of second-placed Mohammad Rizwan (798), the Pakistan wicketkeepe and batter. Not to forget, Surya is the only India batter in the top 10 of the batters rankings. India's star cricketer Virat Kohli is the next best Indian, at 14th spot, in the rankings. 

Babar Azam is in good form in the ongoing New Zealand tour of Pakistan. He smashed a brilliant hundred in the 2nd T20 clash. However, with score of just 1 in the 3rd T20, Babar failed to make the cut into top 3 of rankings. He is placed at No 3 with 769 points. 

With Surya not playing T20Is at the moment, Babar and Rizwan had a great chance to eclipse the India batter at the top. However, the difference between the Number 1 and 2, 3 is so much that it may require two massive knocks from Rizwan and Babar to topple Surya at the top.

_. _. _. _. _. _. _. _ pic.twitter.com/aCLowaN63w— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) April 16, 2023

Hardik Pandya is second on the all-rounders’ list, behind leader Shakib Al Hasan. Ten wickets in three T20Is has helped Haris Rauf catapult Shadab Khan to become the top-ranked Pakistan bowler. Rauf picked up back-to-back four-wicket hauls against New Zealand in the ongoing T20I series, winning the Player of the Match in the first game.

The Pakistan quick was just ahead of Shaheen Afridi last week and behind Shadab Khan, who was 12th in the T20I bowling rankings. Ten wickets spread across the first three T20Is have seen Rauf move up five places in the rankings to occupy the 11th spot.

Meanwhile, Ish Sodhi (620) and Shaheen (624) have also moved up by four places and two places respectively with the others around them dropping points. The other big movement in the rankings came from Sri Lanka with Prabath Jayasuriya continuing his magical start to red-ball cricket.

With inputs from PTI