Babar Azam surpasses Virat Kohli as world No. 1 T20I batter for longest period

Virat Kohli in becoming the world No. 1 T20I batter for the longest period of time after he maintained his top spot in the latest ICC T20 batting rankings. Kohli was the No.1 ranked T20I batter for a total of 1,013 days during his reign last decade, but Babar has now surpassed this number following his long-standing stay at the top.

Among others, Ishan Kishan slipped two places but Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson made huge gains at the ICC T20I Player Rankings following their sensational innings at the second and final T20I against Ireland. Left-handed batter Kishan slumped to number 7 after scoring 26 and 3 in the two T20s against Ireland but Hooda, who smashed 47 in the first game and a maiden century in the second match to power India to a series-clinching four-run win, galloped 414 places to 104th. Samson was also rewarded for his knock of 77 as he reached the 144th spot in the batting chart.

Ireland's Harry Tector gained a massive 55 places to reach 66th position among batters with scores of 39 and 64 not out in the rankings, which was updated after the two-match India-Ireland series. In the bowlers' list, pacer Harshal Patel moved from 37th to 33rd position while Ireland's Mark Adair climbed to 43rd from 45th. In Test ranking, Joe Root hung on to his narrow lead as the top-ranked batter but there was some big movement behind him following the completion of England's home series against New Zealand.