*KARACHI: Pakistan opener Babar Azam has reclaimed the number-one battingranking while wrist spinner Shadab Khan has vaulted into second positionfor the first time in his career in the latest International CricketCouncil rankings following the conclusion of Pakistan-Windies series inKarachi on Tuesday.*

Babar, who captained Pakistan in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012, was instellar form when he scored 17, 97 not out and 51 as Pakistan consolidatedtheir position at the top of the team rankings following a 3-0 series win.For this consistency, Babar was adjudged player of the series and was alsorewarded with a jump of two places, which has made him the highest-rankedbatsman in the shortest format of the game for the second time in less than10 weeks.

Babar had first surged to the top on 28 January following the seriesagainst New Zealand, before Glenn Maxwell of Australia went top during theAustralia-New Zealand-England T20I tri-series on 7 February. New Zealand’sColin Munro finished the series on 24 February as the number-one rankedbatsman.[image: Babar Azam]link>Babar Azam

When Babar topped the batting rankings in January, he had become the secondPakistan batsman after Misbah-ul-Haq (2008-2009) to claim the covetednumber-one position.

For his efforts in Karachi, Babar earned 95 points, which put him ahead ofMunro and Maxwell. Babar now leads Munro by 80 points, while Maxwell isanother two points behind.

Other players to make an upward movement following this series includeShoaib Malik (32nd, up by four places), Fakhar Zaman (50th, up by 15places), Hussain Talat (has entered in 54th spot) and Chadwick Walton(98th, up by 11 places).

In the bowling table, Shadab Khan has rocketed 10 places to secondfollowing his five wickets in the series. Shadab, who played in the ICC U19Cricket World Cup 2016, collected 125 points from the just-concludedseries, which has put him just 26 points behind fellow wrist spinner RashidKhan of Afghanistan, who interestingly is just 14 days older than Shadab.