Pakistan's swashbuckling opener Babar Azam on Wednesday surpasses Virat Kohli's record to remain the no 1 ranked T20I batsman for the longest period.
Often, Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are compared to each other, such are their talents, and such has been the nature of cricket. Kohli, the former Indian skipper who has conquered it all, has often seen his name mentioned in the same bracket as Pakistan skipper Babar Azam.
While a lot has been said and written about the dynamic duo, Babar has broken a massive world record, previously held by Virat Kohli, to further cement his status as one of the greatest batsmen in modern-day cricket.
The Pakistani skipper became the batsman to remain at the top of ICC's T20I rankings for the longest period, surpassing Kohli's record. While the former Indian skipper 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.
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Babar Azam has now remained at the top of ICC's T20I rankings, for 1,014 days, thereby surpassing the tally of Virat Kohli.
Among others, Ishan Kishan slipped two places but Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson made huge gains in 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.
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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.
With inputs from PTI
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