This will be the third clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan in this tri-series between Pakistan National Cricket Team, Afghanistan National Cricket Team, and the United Arab Emirated (UAE).
Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi are the only Afghan players who are in the top 10 list of the ICC Men’s T20I Bowler Rankings and ICC Men’s T20I All-Rounder Rankings, respectively otherwise there is no other player from Afghanistan who is in the top 10 list of the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings.
ICC T20 Team Rankings: Pakistan vs Afghanistan:
Before the tri-series between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the UAE, both teams, Pakistan and Afghanistan, were at 8th and 9th position, respectively. However, they are still at the same position, but the rating difference is now getting close.
Earlier, Pakistan had a rating of 231 in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Standings, and they are still at the same rating whereas Afghanistan was at 223, and now they have 224.
ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings:
ICC Men’s T20I Batter Rankings:
Neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan batter is in the top 10 of the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Standings. However, Afghani batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz is at 18th position and will be aiming to get into the top 10 in the future.
| Rank | Name | Country | Rating |
| 1 | Abhishek Sharma | India | 829 |
| 2 | Tilak Verma | India | 804 |
| 3 | Phil Salt | England | 791 |
| 4 | Josh Buttler | England | 772 |
| 5 | Travis Head | Australia | 771 |
| 6 | Suryakumar Yadav | India | 739 |
| 7 | Pathum Nissanka | Sri Lanka | 736 |
| 8 | Tim Seifert | New Zealand | 725 |
| 9 | Tim David | Australia | 676 |
| 10 | Yashasvi Jaiswal | India | 673 |
ICC Men’s T20I Bowler Rankings:
Rashid Khan is now in 8th position in the ICC Men’s T20I Bowler Standings. He used to be at the top position for a very long time, but due to the poor performance in the past few months, his position dropped. However, Rashid took 6 wickets in just 3 matches in the tri-series.
| Rank | Name | Country | Rating |
| 1 | Jacob Duffy | New Zealand | 717 |
| 2 | Adil Rashid | England | 710 |
| 3 | Akeal Hosein | West Indies | 7 07 |
| 4 | Varun Chakravarthy | India | 706 |
| 5 | Adam Zampa | Australia | 700 |
| 6 | Wanindu Hasaranga | Sri Lanka | 679 |
| 7 | Ravi Bishnoi | India | 674 |
| 8 | Rashid Khan | Afghanistan | 669 |
| 9 | Nathan Ellis | Australia | 658 |
| 10 | Arshdeep Singh | India | 653 |
ICC Men’s T20I All-Rounder Rankings:
Image Credit: Espncricinfo
Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi is in second position with a rating of 231 in the ICC Men’s T20I All-Rounder Rankings. There’s no Pakistani player in this top 10 list, as they haven’t played good cricket in the past.
| Rank | Name | Country | Rating |
| 1 | Hardik Pandya | India | 252 |
| 2 | Mohammad Nabi | Afghanistan | 231 |
| 3 | Dipendra Singh Airee | Nepal | 209 |
| 4 | Roston Chase | West Indies | 196 |
| 5 | Liam Livingstone | England | 196 |
| 6 | Wanindu Hasaranga | Sri Lanka | 192 |
| 7 | Sikandar Raza | Zimbabwe | 189 |
| 8 | Romario Shepherd | West Indies | 183 |
| 9 | Marcus Stoinis | Austarlia | 179 |
| 10 | Aiden Markram | South Africa | 168 |
How Ranking Impacts Teams Participation in the ICC Tournaments?
The Higher ranked teams get an added advantage if they are in top positions like usually the top 8 or 12, depending upon the format gets direct entry into the tournament. However, lower ranked teams need to play qualifiers to get the spot.
For Countries like Afghanistan, Nepal, the Netherlands, etc., that are emerging, for them- ranking is very important. As this not only gives an advantage to get a spot in ICC tournaments but also increase the chance to play more international series.
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