Babar Azam, who held fort as the No. 1-ranked men’s T20I batter for two years in a row, has slipped down to No.12 in the latest update.
Babar made his debut in the format in September 2016 against England and scored an unbeaten 55 in his second game versus the West Indies. He reached 1,000 T20I runs in his 26th game, becoming the fastest to the feat back in 2018. Since then, only Dawid Malan from Full Member nations has got to 1,000 runs quicker (in 24 innings).
Such was Babar’s impressive start that he entered the top ten within a year of playing internationally, and reached fourth place in September 2017. He first became the top-ranked men’s T20I batter in November 2018 after a string of impressive matches, where he crossed 40 in seven out of eight innings. It included four fifties, along with an unbeaten 97 off 58 balls against the West Indies.
He held onto the spot till November 2020, during which he scored 650 runs in 16 innings at an average of 46.42. He also batted with a strike rate of 140.08.
Babar concedes No.1 spot, regains it later
After two years at the helm, he conceded the position to Malan, who rose to the top with 880 rating points, one more than Babar. The Pakistan opener shuffled between second and third places on the ICC rankings, but never retained top spot till October 2021. From January to October that year, Babar was the second-highest run-scorer in the format, making 651 runs at an average of 40.68. An unbeaten 68 against India in the T20 World Cup helped him achieve the No.1 ranking again.
Babar briefly occupied the second and third positions but primarily held the No.1 T20I ranking until September 2022, which marked his last time at the top. Despite averaging just 30 and making 450 runs in 17 innings between October 2022 and December 2023, he continued to be one of the top five batters. A poor 2024, where he failed to cross 50 in 11 successive innings, finally meant that he fell out of the top five in December 2024, for the first time since January 2018.
Babar, who has not played a T20I this year, with Pakistan looking at youngsters who score quicker, has continued to fall in the ICC rankings. He is currently 12th, finding himself out of the top ten for the first time in nearly eight years. Babar has consistently held a position within the top 10 rankings since October 2017. He currently also has 661 rating points, the lowest in this period.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
