Pakistan Retain Top Spot In ICC T20I Rankings, India At Fifth

The ongoing year is just going from bad to worse for Pakistan. Even a change in captaincy has not turned their fortunes so far. Before coming to Australia, they had named Babar Azam as the new T20I captain after sacking Sarfaraz Ahmed. However, Babar has started his captaincy stint with a thumping defeat to Australia.

Australia, on Friday, dismantled Pakistan by 10 wickets to win the three-match series 2-0 after the first game could not yield a result. The Men in Green failed to do well with the bat once again and managed just a modest total of 106 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs. The bowlers then did even worse as Australia crossed the finishing line inside 12 overs without losing a single wicket.

The defeat has only extended Pakistan’s poor T20 record this year. Currently the number one ranked team in the world, they lost 1-2 to South Africa earlier in the year before being whitewashed by Sri Lanka in a three-match series at home. Australia have now only compounded their miseries in the shortest format of the game.

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The Men in Green have won only one of their last 10 T20Is while losing eight. Their last bilateral series win came in October-November 2018 when they whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 in the UAE. They also lost one game to England just before the World Cup. But despite performing horribly in the series as well as this year, Pakistan have managed to remain on the top of the ICC T20I rankings.

Australia, on the other hand, have moved to second spot. They are now trailing Pakistan by just one rating in the latest ranking. Australia have already beaten the likes of India, Sri Lanka as well as Pakistan this year in T20Is. India, meanwhile, continue to be at the fifth spot in the rankings.

In the players’ rankings, Babar has retained his top position in batting in T20Is after scoring two fifties in the series. Imad Wasim is the highest-ranked Pakistani bowler in the rankings at second spot. For Australia, Glenn Maxwell, who recently took a break from the game, is their top-ranked batsman at number two followed by Aaron Finch at four.