Sahibzada Farhan set to kick down Abhishek Sharma and become No.1 T20I batter

Pakistan National Cricket Team opening batsman Sahibzada Farhan has made colossal gains in the latest ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday, March 4.

Along with Sahibzada Farhan gaining points, the current World No.1 batter, Abhishek Sharma, has lost some momentum, and now there’s only a 26-point gap between the India and Pakistan openers.

Though Pakistan were eliminated from the contest without having made it to the semi-finals of the competition, Farhan surely played one of the finest ICC tournaments, which would be a memorable one for him throughout his career.

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Sahibzada Farhan ready to dethrone Abhishek Sharma as World’s No.1 T20I batter

Abhishek Sharma currently has 874 Rating Points, and following him on the list is Sahibzada Farhan with 848 Rating Points. The next three batters on the list are Phil Salt, Ishan Kishan, and Pathum Nissanka.

While Abhishek Sharma is going through a very rough patch in his maiden ICC T20 World Cup tournament, Pakistani opener Sahibzada Farhan, who also played his very first T20 World Cup, roared with his numbers. His numbers were so high that he contributed to almost 40% of the runs scored by Pakistan in the entire tournament.

He also went on to become the first-ever batter in the history of the ICC T20 World Cup to have scored a pair of centuries in the same edition of the tournament. His second hundred of the World Cup at the Pallekele International Stadium set the record, alongside placing him second on the list with a new career-high rating.

Ishan Kishan to Brian Bennett: Major changes in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings

India played a massive gamble ahead of the T20 World Cup. They dropped Shubman Gill as the opener of the side and also sidelined Sanju Samson to bring in Ishan Kishan, the Sunrisers Hyderabad wicket-keeper, as the frontline gloveman and opener for the World Cup XI.

However, for India, the gamble paid off, as Kishan not only made a comeback, but he also made the Indian fans cheer loudly with his dominant performances. Alongside the several half-centuries and the century he has scored in the last two months, the dynamic left-hander has come to India’s rescue whenever they needed runs.

He made a historic rise and has now gained the fourth spot on the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings and is behind Phil Salt, the English batter. Tilak Varma maintains his spot within the top 10 as he holds onto the sixth spot, followed by skipper Suryakumar Yadav.

Another very special mention includes Zimbabwean batter Brian Bennett. The 22-year-old batter has not only made a name for himself as an opener in T20Is but has also transformed the format with his remarkable consistency. With 292 runs at an average of 146 on his T20 World Cup debut, he rose six spots to take the 11th spot on the list.

Pakistani spinner inches closer to Varun Chakravarthy’s no. 1 spot

On the bowling front, it’s not a very different story from the batting department. Pakistani spinner Abrar Ahmed made wonderful progress to climb two spots in the Rankings and take the third spot.

On the contrary, Varun Chakravarthy is the current number 1. The top-ranked Indian spinner is just 18 Rating points above Rashid Khan, who seals the second spot. South African pacer Lungi Ngidi, English spinner Liam Dawson, and Indian pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh have all made massive progress.

Bumrah is the second bowler from India in the top 10 of the rank holders in the ICC’s Men’s Bowling Rankings.