Tilak Varma inches away from breaking Babar Azam's world record in ICC T20I rankings

India batter Tilak Varma has reached a career-best second position in the latest ICC T20I rankings for batters, released on Wednesday. The left-hander rose to the second spot after his unbeaten 72* in the second T20I against England. Tilak, who is 22 years and 82 days at the time of reaching second position, is only 23 rating points behind top-ranked Travis Head and has a good chance of breaking Pakistan's Babar Azam's world record by becoming the youngest to top the T20I batting rankings. The mark is currently held by Babar Azam, who was 23 years and 105 days old when he went top for the first time in January 2018. India's Tilak Varma plays a shot during the third Twenty20 international cricket match between India and England at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --(AFP)

Tilak's 832 rating points are the fourth-best by an Indian batter in the format after Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. The 22-year-old was dismissed for the first time in five innings when Adil Rashid produced a beauty to breach his defence in the third T20I in Rajkot on Tuesday. Before that, Tilak had scores of 107*, 120* (both against South Africa) and 19* and 72* against England.

He currently has 725 runs, 23 T20Is at an average of 55.76, scored at a strike rate of 155.24 with two centuries to his name. Tilak will have a chance to past Babar and topple Head from the top spot by scoring big in the remaining two T20Is against England.

In the bowling rankings, England’s wrist-spinner Adil Rashid has ended Akeal Hosein’s 44-day stay at the top after taking one for 14 and one for 15 in the second and third matches of the series, completing his four overs each time to help England narrow the lead to 2-1.

It is the second time the England leggie has topped the table, having occupied top spot for a year from December 2023 to December 2024.

Liam Livingstone (up five places to 32nd) and Abhishek Sharma (up 59 places to 40th) are other batters to gain after the series while Varun Chakravarthy (up 25 places to a career-best fifth position), Joffra Archer (up 13 places to sixth), Axar Patel (up five places to 11th) and Hardik Pandya (up eight places to 43rd) have moved up the bowling list.

Test rankings

Left-arm spinners Noman Ali and Jomel Warrican have attained career-best positions in the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings after outstanding performances in the second Test between Pakistan and the West Indies in Multan.

Noman, who became the first Pakistani spinner to take a Test hat-trick in a match haul of 10 for 121, has gained four spots to reach fifth position with 806 rating points. He is only the 12th Pakistani bowler to go past the 800-point mark in Tests and the only one from his country in the top 20 right now.

Warrican won the Player of the Match award after finishing with nine for 70 in the second Test, moving up 16 places to 25th position. He has progressed a total of 28 places in the two Tests with a return of 19 wickets, that also won him the Player of the Series award.

Kemar Roach (up one place to 18th) and Gudakesh Motie (up six places to 58th) are the West Indian bowlers to move up the rankings while Sajid Khan (up two places to 21st) and Abrar Ahmed (up two places to 50th) are the Pakistan players to move up the list.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s second innings half-century at the top of the order, which contributed to a 120-run win, has lifted him eight places to 44th position while Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has moved back towards the top10, advancing from 17th to 15th position.

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