Babar Azam cements his position at the top

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Babar Azam retained his position as the No. 1 ranked ODI batsman, and extended his lead over others, in the newest MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Player Rankings. This was particularly helped by his score of 74 runs against the Netherlands, which helped Pakistan win by a slim margin of 16 runs.

The Pakistani 27-year-old attained the top spot after displacing Virat Kohli in April 2021, and with an additional 91 points since the last update, he is on track to cement his position for a while.

With a total of 891 rating points, Babar Azam is far ahead of the next contender, Imam-Ul-Haq, who has 800 points. Moreover, the Pakistani captain is also the top ranked T20I batter, though he is closelytailed by New Zealand batsman Devon Conway, at rank seven.

Several other New Zealand players have made strides in the T20I rankings as well, including Mitchell Santner who has climbed up to position eight, on the bowlers list.

Other bowlers who have risen in the T20I bowlers rankings including the top ranked Australian Josh Hazlewood (who is also number three, among ODI bowlers). The ODI rankings also include Pakistani bowler Shaheen Afridi (who has fallen to position 5) , and Bangladeshi bowler Mustafizur Rahman (who has made the biggest jump among all, to 10^th).

Meanwhile, can Babar Azam attain the top rank across all 3 formats of the game? Based on his current form and ranking points, it is definitely on the charts.