Dawid Malan overtakes Babar Azam in T20 ranking

LONDON: England’s cricketer Dawid Malan has displaced Pakistani batsman Babar Azam as the top-ranked batsman in T20 internationals.

Twin half-centuries in the first two T20Is in Australia had helped Babar Azam consolidate his position at the top of the men’s T20I rankings for batsmen. However,  Dawid Malan moved up all the way to No. 1. Following  Aaron Finch ar 3rd, KL Rahul at 4th, and Colin Munro on 5th.  

🎉 Dawid Malan rises to No.1 🎉

The England batsman, who topped the run-scoring charts in the #ENGvAUS series, has jumped four places on the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men’s T20I Rankings 🔥 pic.twitter.com/rLvECHFigb

— ICC (@ICC) September 9, 2020

Malan has made a brilliant start to his T20I career, scoring 458 runs at a strike rate of 156.31 in his nine games to date, with the 51-ball 103* in the fourth T20I against New Zealand his best so far. However, Malan, and Finch – 37*, 17 and 52* against Pakistan – remain well behind Azam, who has 876 points to the Australian’s 807 and the Englishman’s 782. Below them in the top ten are Colin Munro, Glenn Maxwell, Hazratullah Zazai, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Martin Guptill, and Eoin Morgan.