ICC T20I rankings: Babar Azam, KL Rahul retain top two spots for batsmen, Mohammad Hafeez makes major gain

Veteran Pakistan middle-order batsman Mohammad Hafeez in the last 2 months was in news mainly because of the coronavirus. The 39-year-old had to go for multiple Covid-19 tests before flying to England for the tour as he had tested positive initially.

Ahead of Pakistan's second Test at Ageas Bowl, Hafeez was again isolated from rest of the team as he violated the social distancing norms set for the successful execution of the series and clicked a picture with an elderly lady in a golf court adjacent to the stadium. But the middle-order batsman has finally come into news for his cricketing talents.

Mohammad Hafeez starred with the bat and aggregated as many as 155 runs, the most by any batsman in the recently-concluded T20I series between Pakistan and England. The evergreen batsman was adjudged Man-of-the-Series also for his performance. His scintilating performance with the bat has helped him move up from 68th to 44th.

Young England opener Tom Banton, the second-highest run-getter in the series with 137 runs made a massive jump of 152 places and land up just ahead of



Hafeez on the 43rd spot.

England batsman Dawid Malan, who enjoyed a career-best ranking of second in November last year, moved back into the top five after aggregating 84 runs in the series while wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow also gained a place to reach career-best 22nd position.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam continues to top the latest ICC rankings for batsmen and is followed by India's KL Rahul, and Australia's Aaron Finch in the top three.

In the bowling department Pakistan spinner Shadab Khan reaped dividends for his good run in the England series. Shadad took 5 wickets in the series to climb a place to the 8th position.

England medium-pacer Tom Curran and Shaheen Afridi of Pakistan have both moved up the list to take joint-20th position. Curran gained 7 slots and Shaheen 14 places after picking up 2 wickets each in the series. Wahab Riaz, who took vital 2 wickets in the 19th over of the final T20I climbed up 18 places to land on 107th position and Haris Rauf (up 25 places to 157th) were the others to gain in the latest rankings update.