DUBAI:
Pakistan’s bowlers have made notable gains in the latest ICC T20I rankings, while the nation’s batters have experienced a decline.
Pace spearhead Haris Rauf jumped two places to 24th with 575 points, alongside Abbas Afridi, who climbed one spot to 26th with 572 points.
Spinner Sufiyan Muqeem and left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi also improved, moving up to 33rd and 34th with 542 and 541 points, respectively.
However, the spin duo of Mohammad Nawaz and Abrar Ahmed saw a drop, falling two and one place to 58th and 61st, while Shadab Khan slipped one spot to 73rd.
At the top of the rankings, New Zealand’s Jacob Duffy remains the number one T20I bowler, followed by England’s Adil Rashid in second and West Indies’ Akeal Hosein in third.
On the batting front, Pakistan’s stars Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, who have been out of T20I action since 2024, dropped one spot each to 18th and 20th. Middle-order batter Hassan Nawaz fell two places to 32nd, while Saim Ayub slipped to 38th with 559 points.
Other notable drops include opener Sahibzada Farhan, who slid to 64th, T20I captain Salman Ali Agha, down to 77th, left-handed batter Fakhar Zaman at 79th, and wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris, who fell two places to 88th.
India’s Abhishek Sharma continues to lead the T20I batting rankings. Changes in the second and third positions saw Australia’s Travis Head drop two places to fourth, making way for India’s Tilak Varma to rise to second and England’s Phil Salt to secure third.
Babar slips again
Pakistan’s top-order batter Babar Azam has dropped further in the latest ICC ODI rankings following a disappointing performance in the recent series against the West Indies, scoring just 56 runs across three matches at an average of 18.66.
Babar, who previously held the second spot, has slipped to third with 751 rating points. He has been overtaken by India’s ODI captain Rohit Sharma, while teammate Shubman Gill retains the number one position in the world rankings.
Among other Pakistani players, ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan has also dropped one place, moving from 21st to 22nd with 602 points. Opening batter Fakhar Zaman, who missed the West Indies ODIs due to injury, fell four places to 27th with 590 points.
Imam-ul-Haq and Agha Salman also saw their rankings decline, slipping to 37th and 41st respectively.
Saim Ayub suffered the biggest drop among Pakistan’s batters, falling nine places to 46th. Meanwhile, opening batter Abdullah Shafique improved, climbing seven places to reach 90th spot with 428 points.
In the ICC ODI bowlers’ rankings, left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi dropped one place to 13th with 599 points after taking just four wickets in three matches.
Haris Rauf fell three places to 27th, while Naseem Shah dropped one step to 43rd with 493 points. Spinner Abrar Ahmed climbed three places to 54th, Mohammad Nawaz retained his 64th position, and Mohammad Wasim Jr fell four places to 71st. Sri Lanka’s Maheesh Theekshana continues to dominate as the world’s number one ODI bowler, followed by India’s Kuldeep Yadav at second, and South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj in third.
