DUBAI: Pakistan’s T20I players made significant gains in the ICC rankings following their recent series victory over the West Indies, with several emerging stars climbing the charts thanks to strong individual performances.
Among the biggest movers was middle-order batter Hassan Nawaz, who rose 24 places to secure the 30th spot in the batting rankings. He accumulated 569 rating points after scoring a total of 79 runs in the three-match series. Leading the charge was top-order batter Saim Ayub, who emerged as the series’ highest run-scorer with 130 runs, including two half-centuries. His performance helped him jump 25 places to the 37th position with 559 points.
Fellow opener Sahibzada Farhan also impressed, notching up 91 runs across the series and climbing 34 positions to reach 63rd in the rankings. Captain Salman Ali Agha and veteran batter Fakhar Zaman saw smaller gains, moving up 15 and three places to 76th and 78th, respectively.
However, some seasoned players faced setbacks due to inactivity. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, who haven’t played a T20I since 2024, each slipped three positions, now ranking 17th and 19th, respectively. Mohammad Haris, who had a difficult tour of the Caribbean, dropped 21 spots to 86th in the rankings.
India’s Abhishek Sharma maintained his position as the number one T20I batter, followed by Australia’s Travis Head and India’s Tilak Varma in second and third.
On the bowling front, no Pakistani bowler featured in the top 20. Haris Rauf held steady at 26th with 575 points, while Abbas Afridi slipped three spots to 27th. One of the standout risers was left-arm spinner Sufiyan Muqeem, who leaped 69 places to 34th with 542 points. Shaheen Afridi dropped one spot to 36th, and Mohammad Nawaz surged 51 places to 56th with 489 points. Abrar Ahmed fell nine places to 60th, while vice-captain Shadab Khan dropped five spots to 72nd.
New Zealand’s Jacob Duffy retained the top spot in the bowling rankings, followed by England’s Adil Rashid and West Indies’ Akeal Hosein, who displaced India’s Varun Chakaravarthy to take third.
In the all-rounders category, Shadab Khan dropped two places to 19th, while Saim Ayub continued his breakout with a massive jump of 70 spots, now sitting at 24th with 119 rating points. Mohammad Nawaz rose 13 positions to 36th. Meanwhile, Abbas Afridi fell to 56th, Iftikhar Ahmed to 70th, and Faheem Ashraf climbed to 77th.
India’s Hardik Pandya leads the T20I all-rounder rankings, followed by Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee and Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi.
