Pakistan captain Babar Azam has narrowed the gap with India’s Suryakumar Yadav in the ICC Men’s T20I batter rankings after Pakistan’s team managed to draw the latest series against New Zealand.
Babar emerged as Pakistan’s top run-scorer in the series, which ended in a 2-2 tie, notably scoring a half-century in the fifth T20I, amassing a total of 125 runs from four innings at the top of Pakistan’s batting order.
With the first match washed out due to rain, Pakistan won the fifth T20I. Babar’s performance elevated him one spot to fourth in the updated T20I rankings for batters, increasing his rating by 10 points to 763.
Now, Suryakumar is only 98 rating points ahead of Babar as they both gear up for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup starting on June 1. Additionally, Babar’s teammate Fakhar Zaman climbed ten places to 62nd in the rankings following his contribution of 104 runs in the series.
Among the New Zealand players, Tim Seifert stood out, rising seven places to joint seventh position after scoring 85 runs in the series with a commendable strike rate of 144.06.
Furthermore, there was a notable advancement for Pakistan and New Zealand bowlers in the updated T20I bowlers’ list, with pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi climbing three places to 14th after taking eight wickets across four matches against New Zealand.