Suryakumar Yadav Overtakes Babar Azam in T20 Batting Rankings, Nears First Place

Suryakumar Yadav is now ranked third in the ICC men's T20I batting rankings, with Mohammad Rizwan in the first place

Suryakumar Yadav is currently third in the ICC Men's T20I batting rankings.

(Photo: IANS)

Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav made further inroads in the ICC Men's T20I batting rankings, as he overtook Pakistani skipper Babar Azam to claim the third position.

In the recent ICC rankings, Yadav is occupying third place with a rating of 780, while a rating of 771 has kept Babar Azam out of the top three. Yadav now has Aiden Markram in his sights, as the South African batter is second with a rating of 792.

Though Babar Azam has been demoted, his opening partner, Mohammad Rizwan is still the number one T20I batter in men's cricket. The Pakistani wicketkeeper-batter is the owner of pole position with a rating of 825.

The 32-year-old Indian batter is in scintillating form in the shortest format of the game, and he played yet another sublime knock in his last outing.

In the first match of the three-match T20I series against Australia, Yadav scored 46 runs in only 25 deliveries, hitting a couple of sixes and twice as many fours in the process.

Overall in his T20I career, the Mumbaikar has accumulated 857 runs for the men in blue in 29 matches, with an average of 37.26 and a praiseworthy strike rate of 173.83. Going into the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, his form will be the biggest source of relief for an otherwise underperforming Indian team.

Promotion for Pandya, Demotion Aplenty for Bowlers

As for the bowlers’ rankings, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is India’s highest-ranked bowler. He is occupying ninth place – taking a two-place drop after a string of underwhelming performances. Besides him, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi and Ravichandran Ashwin have also dropped places.

Hardik Pandya, on the contrary, has earned a two-place promotion and is now a part of the top 5 all-rounders’ list in men’s T20I cricket.