Sufiyan Muqeem, a 25-year-old spinner from Pakistan, gained a lot from the latest updates of the ICC T20I rankings. The spin bowler jumped 69 spots and claimed the 35th spot with 542 points. His improvements came because of his constant performance during the 3-match T20I series between the West Indies and Pakistan.

The left-arm wrist spinner grabbed only 3 wickets in those three matches, but his influence over the games was impressive. He bowled a total of 12 overs in the series against the host West Indies and conceded only 59 runs while picking up his three wickets. Before the tour, he was in 101st place in the previous update but has now jumped to 34th position in the latest update in the T20I rankings. As of now, Muqeem is enjoying his best ICC T20I rankings. 

So far, his overall T20I career also looks very well decorated. In 13 T20Is, the hailing spinner took a total of 21 wickets at an economy rate of 5.74 with his career-best T20I figure of 5/3. 

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Recent International Matches of Sufiyan Muqeem:

Pakistan vs. West Indies, Lauderhill: 1/20

Pakistan vs. West Indies, Lauderhill: 1/19

Pakistan vs. West Indies, Lauderhill: 1/20

Despite the promising display from the emerging spinner, in the ICC T20I Bowling Rankings, no Pakistani bowler features in the top 20. Haris Rauf retained 26th place, while Abbas Afridi slipped to 27th. Shaheen Afridi fell to 36th, while Mohammad Nawaz surged 51 spots to 56th. Abrar Ahmed and Shadab Khan slipped to 60th and 72nd, respectively.

Top 10 T20I bowlers after latest updates in ICC rankings:

1. Jacob Duffy- 717

2. Adil Rashid- 710

3. Akeal Hosein- 707

4. Varun Chakravarthy- 706

5. Adam Zampa—694

6. Wanindu Hasaranga- 679

7. Ravi Bishnoi- 674

8. Rashid Khan- 646

9. Nathan Allis- 646

10. Arshdeep Singh—653

The 25-year-old Pakistan left-arm spinner Sufiyan Muqeem created a new history in Pakistan cricket as they thrashed Zimbabwe in the second T20I to secure the away three-match T20I series by leading it 2-0 with one to go. 

After Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza chose to field first, they were bundled out for their lowest T20I total of 57 runs. Pakistan openers comfortably chased the target without losing any wickets in 5.3 overs. 

Zimbabwe: 57 all out

Zimbabwe openers Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani started the T20I match strongly by scoring 37/0 in four overs. However, once that opening partnership was broken, they experienced a complete batting collapse. Zimbabwe lost their ten wickets by only adding 20 runs. Only the openers Bennett (21) and Marumani (16) reached the double-digit marks in that innings.

The 57 all out was the new record for Zimbabwe in the lowest completed T20I total. Their previous lowest T20I total was 82 all out against Sri Lanka in Colombo (RPS) on January 18, 2024. 

See Also: Haris Rauf creates new T20I record for Pakistan

Sufiyan Muqeem records best T20I bowling figures for Pakistan

All the Pakistan bowlers performed strongly. Apart from Jahandad Khan, who delivered only one over, all other Pakistan bowlers picked up at least one wicket. While Abbas Afridi recorded 2-1-2-2, Sufiyan Muqeem, who was playing his seventh T20I match, recorded his first T20 fifer and ended the innings with the bowling figures of 2.4-0-3-5. 

Muqeem recorded the best T20I bowling figures by a Pakistan bowler. Umar Gul previously held the record for the best bowling figures for Pakistan with the bowling figures of 3-0-6-5 against New Zealand in 2009 during the ICC World T20 2009. 

New Zealand won by 10 wickets

Pakistan openers Saim Ayub (36.*) and Omair Yousuf (22*) had no hiccups as they chased the target in just 5.3 overs. It was Pakistan's third 10-wicket win in their T20I history after their 2021 Dubai win against India and the 2022 Karachi win against England. Meanwhile, as Pakistan won the T20I with 87 balls remaining, it was the fastest T20I chase for Pakistan by balls remaining in the second innings. Their previous record in this list was winning the 2024 Rawalpindi T20I against New Zealand with 47 balls remaining.