Babar Azam dethroned as Dawid Malan grabs pole position in ICC T20I Rankings for batsmen

Dawid Malan has dethroned Pakistani batting sensation, Babar Azam, to grab the 'Numero Uno' spot in the latest ICC T20I Rankings for batsmen. Azam had occupied the top spot in the shortest format back in early 2018 and had been on a roll in the T20I format since then. However, Malan's consistent performances in the previous two series against Pakistan and Australia respectively meant that Babar had to be satisfied being the second-best batsman in a format where he looked invincible.

Babar Azam dethroned

In the recently released T20I Rankings by the governing body of world cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC),  English T20I specialist batsman Dawid Malan has taken the top spot with 877 rating points while Pakistan's limited-overs skipper Babar Azam has been pushed to the second spot with 869 points. Team India's star limited-overs batsman KL Rahul who was at the second position till now has now dropped to the fourth position. Even though the Karnataka batsman has been consitent in the shortest format but he ended up losing points as Virat Kohli & Co. have not played an international T20 match since early February. Rahul has 824 points. Meanwhile, the third spot is occupied by the Australian limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch with 835 points. New Zealand T20I opener and power-hitter Colin Munro grabs fifth spot with 785 points. 

Apart from Rahul the other Indian batsman in this list is skipper Virat Kohli himself. The batting megastar occupies the ninth spot with 673 points. English limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan (10th with 671 points) completes the list.

Dawid Malan had an excellent outing in the recently concluded T20I series against arch-rivals Australia where he amassed 129 runs in three matches 66 (43) 42 (32) & 21(18) as the 2009 T20 World Cup winners registered a convincing 2-1 win. Nonetheless, Finch & Co. managed to salvage pride by winning the dead-rubber (3rd T20I) by five wickets at the Ageas Rose Bowl, Southampton on Tuesday. 

With just 12 points separating Malan and Babar it remains to be seen whether the 2017 Champions Trophy winner can make up for it in the upcoming series against Zimbabwe and grab the pole position once again.

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