Pakistan eyeing top spot in T20I rankings

Johannesburg: Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez has said that his team will look to win the two-match T20 series against South Africa on Wednesday to go to the top of the rankings in the format.

According to Sport24, besides improvement in the rankings, both the teams will also seek to get tuned up for the fifth edition of the World Twenty20 to be held in Bangladesh in March and April next year. Pakistan will also look to put behind them the 4-1 thrashing in the five-match one-day series, which finished on Monday, and Hafeez said it will be important to forget that loss, according to the report. Pakistan are bolstered by the return of all-rounders Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik, while South Africa welcome Twenty20 specialists in Henry Davids, Aaron Phangiso and David Wiese as well as pace spearhead Dale Steyn, who has not played a T20 since December last year, the report said.