Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is the new No. 1 T20I batter in the ICC rankings, ending captain Babar Azam's reign at the top. Rizwan's match-winning knocks of 78* off 57 against Hong Kong in the group stage and 71 off 51 against India in Super 4s of the Asia Cup helped him reach his career-best 815 points.
Rizwan has claimed the top position for the first time and he is only the third Pakistan batter to top the T20I batting rankings after Babar, who has been at the top of the table for 1155 days in all, and Misbah-ul-Haq, who was at the top for 313 days, from April 20 , 2008 to February 27, 2009.
Rizwan's form also coincided with Babar's slump, with the captain scoring just 33 runs in three matches at the Asia Cup. With 192 runs so far, Rizwan is also the leading run-getter in the competition as on Wednesday, when Pakistan take on Afghanistan. Rizwan has been churning out consistent performances in the shortest format in recent times, scoring a total of 1541 runs in 33 matches, at an average of 73.38 and strike rate of 133.76, since the start of 2021. He is also the top-scorer in T20Is in the period and averages the most among batters who have played at least 15 innings since January 2021.
Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka moved up by a place to No. 8, on the back of his impressive run of form in the tournament. He scored 20, 35 and 52 in his last three matches, with the half-century powering Sri Lanka to victory against India in a chase of 174 on Tuesday and taking the team closer to the final spot.
Nissanka's opening partner Kusal Mendis also took giant steps, advancing 63 places to reach 41st spot after a solid 57 off 37 balls. Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka (up 11 places to 39th) and middle-order batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa (up 31 places to 68th) have also made big progress.
India captain Rohit Sharma moved to 13th position, a jump of four places, after scoring 72 off 41 against Sri Lanka, while Virat Kohli rose to 29th place after his 44-ball 60 against Pakistan.
Afghanistan's 20-year-old batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who smashed a 45-ball 84, albeit in a losing cause against Sri Lanka in the Super 4 clash, also gained 14 places to move to the 15th position.
Among bowlers, offspinner Maheesh Theekshana gained five spots to be No. 8 and Mujeeb Ur Rahman rose three places to sixth. He is the joint highest wicket-taker in the Asia Cup along with Pakistan's Mohammad Nawaz with seven scalps from three games, as on Wednesday.
In the ICC men's ODI batting rankings, Australia's David Warner moved from seventh to sixth position while the New Zealand captain Kane Williamson entered the top 10 with a jump of one spot after the first of the three ODIs between the two teams in Cairns on Tuesday.
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc and legspinner Adam Zampa moved to 12th and 18th places respectively among the bowlers.