Pakistan captain Babar Azam reclaims top batter throne in T20I rankings

Pakistan captain Babar Azam became the top batter in the ICC T20I rankings once again following a brilliant 49-ball 70 in the match against Namibia at the T20 World Cup.

Babar’s 70-run innings was the key to the 113-run opening stand between him and Mohammad Rizwan that helped Pakistan set a mammoth total of 189 runs, the second-highest of the tournament after Afghanistan’s 190 against Scotland. The Green Shirts went on to win the game by 45 runs, cementing a place in the semi-final of the seventh edition of the ICC T20 World Cup.

Sitting second in last week's rankings, Babar gained 14 points to move to 834, past England's Dawid Malan, who slid from 831 to 798, due to a poor run in the mega event.

With three fifty-plus scores in four T20 World Cup matches, the Pakistan skipper has accumulated 198 runs.

Rizwan, Haris, Shaheen rise in ICC T20I rankings

On the back of his form, Pakistan have made the ideal start to the tournament, winning four successive matches to qualify for the semi-finals.

Other players in the top five are Australia’s Aaron Finch (733), Pakistan’s Rizwan (731), and India’s Virat Kohli (714) at 3, 4, and 5, respectively.

Elsewhere in the batting rankings, England’s wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler was the biggest achiever who jumped eight spots with 214 runs in the first four games of the mega event. He sits at 9th place with 670 rating points.

Other big climbers are England opener Jason Roy, up five places to 14th, South Africa's David Miller, up six places to 33rd, and Proteas captain Temba Bavuma, leaping 35 spots to 52nd on the list.