Babar Azam closes in on SKY

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has closed the gap on India dynamo Suryakumar Yadav at the top of the ICC Men's T20I Batter Rankings following an excellent end to his side's series against New Zealand.

Babar was Pakistan's leading run-scorer during an enthralling series that ended tied at 2-2, with the right-hander scoring a half-century in a victory in the fifth T20I of the series to finish with a total of 125 runs from four innings at the top of his side's batting order.

It helped Babar improve one spot to fourth on the updated list of T20I rankings for batters and boost his rating by a total of 10 points to 763, with Suryakumar now just 98 rating points ahead of the Pakistan skipper just one month out from the start of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

Babar's Pakistan teammate Fakhar Zaman also made good ground on the latest rankings update, with the attacking left-hander improving 10 places to 62nd place on the back of his 104 runs for the series.

New Zealand's biggest eye-catcher was Tim Seifert, with the experienced right-hander jumping seven places to equal seventh after compiling 85 runs for the series at a decent strike rate of 144.06.

There was also a boost for Pakistan and New Zealand players on the updated list for T20I bowlers, with pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi jumping three places to equal 14th following his eight scalps across four matches against the Kiwis.

New Zealand duo Michael Bracewell (up 13 spots to 55th) and Ben Sears (up 29 places to 60th) also make some ground on the list for T20I bowlers, while Pakistan's Imad Wasim up is the biggest mover on the T20I all-rounder rankings as he rises 10 rungs to 22nd following a pair of decent effort against the Black Caps.