With the T20 World Cup 2024 just around the corner, the Pakistan cricket team has improved their place in the latest T20I rankings issued by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The Babar Azam-led side, which was previously ranked seventh in the T20I rankings, has jumped one place to become the sixth-best side in the shortest format of the game.
Other teams who have improved their place include two-time champions West Indies who are now ranked at fourth place with their players showing great form ahead of the mega event which the Caribbean nation is set to co-host with the United States from June 1 to 29.
The winners of the 2012 and 2016 editions of the tournament are ahead of New Zealand and South Africa after their 3-0 win over South Africa, who were pushed down to seventh position in the list led by India
"India, winners of the inaugural edition in 2007, are ranked as the top T20I team with 264 rating points, 2021 champions Australia are second with 257 points, defending champions England third with 254 points and the West Indies two points behind them on 252. New Zealand are on 250 while Pakistan and South Africa are both on 244 points with Pakistan slightly ahead on decimal points." said the cricketing body.
The improvement in team ranking comes after several Pakistani players jumped multiple places in the ICC Rankings.
Green Shirts' left-handed batter Fakhar Zaman has risen six spots to 51th on the batting list. Meanwhile,Shaheen Afridirises three spots to joint 11th on the bowling chart.
In the all-rounder category, Imad Wasim has jumped four spots to 12th. Imad and Shadab Khan are joint 12th in all-rounders rankings with the latter falling one spot.
Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam stay at third and fourth place, respectively, in the T20I batting rankings.
The bowling list in T20Is is topped by England's Adil Rashid followed by Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga and India's Axar Patel in second and third places, respectively.
Meanwhile, India's Suryakumar Yadav is ranked as the number one T20I batter followed by England's Phil Salt in second place.
The all-rounder category is topped by Sri Lanka's Hasaranga with a rating of 228 followed by Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan who fell one place and is ranked second.