Babar and Lewis on the rise

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Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Evin Lewis of the West Indies have made impressive gains in the latest ICC Player Rankings for T20I Batsmen following the conclusion of their series in Port of Spain on Sunday.

Babar, who was the leading run-getter in the four-match series with 137 runs, has rocketed 41 places to a career-high 27th position, while Lewis, who scored 111 runs in the series, has vaulted 40 places to 45th in the latest rankings, which were released on Monday.

Ahmed Shahzad 29th (up by five places), Shoaib Malik 34th (up by three places) and Carlos Brathwaite 109th (up by 35 places) are the other batsmen to improve their rankings in the list which is headed by India’s Virat Kohli.

In the bowling table, Pakistan’s wrist spinner Shadab Khan has entered in 117th position after producing player of the series performance. The teenager was the most successful bowler in the series with 10 wickets.

Shadab’s team-mate Imad Wasim has moved up two places to second spot, 15 points behind number-one ranked Imran Tahir, while other bowlers to head in the right direction include Wahab Riaz 40th (up by three places), Marlon Samuels 60th (up by four places) and Carlos Brathwaite 77th (up by 36 places).

In the all-rounders’ list, Samuels has gained one place and is now fourth, while Brathwaite has jumped 31 places to claim 30th position.

Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh will defend his number-one ranking in the all-rounders’ list when he will feature in the two-match series against Sri Lanka to be played on Tuesday and Thursday in Colombo. Shakib leads Glenn Maxwell of Australia by three points and will put to put in strong performances to finish the series on top of the tree.

Meanwhile, eighth-ranked Sri Lanka (101 points) leads 10th-ranked Bangladesh by 29 points, which trails ninth-ranked Afghanistan (84 points) by 12 points.

If Bangladesh wins both the matches, then they will stay in 10th position but will rise to 77 points (seven behind Afghanistan), while Sri Lanka will drop five points to finish at 96 points.

However, if the series result is reversed and Sri Lanka wins 2-0, then they will gain one point and rise to 102 points, while Bangladesh drop one point and end up on 71 points.

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