Pakistan’s top batsman and former skipper Babar Azam has once again clinched the number one position in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen, dethroning India’s Shubman Gill.
As per the ICC ranking, Babar has 824 points, 14 more than the Indian opener’s 810. Interestingly, the third and fourth spots of the list are also occupied by Indian batsmen, Virat Kohli, 775, and Rohit Sharma, 754, respectively.
Babar Azam climbed the top slot after more than a month of Gill’s rule and after the latter was rested for the ongoing Proteas series.
In the rankings for batters, West Indies opener Brandon King, who scored a match-winning 82 not out off 52 deliveries in the second match of the series, has gained six slots to reach a career-best sixth position while Nicholas Pooran (up two places to 12th) and Rovman Powell (up14 places to 23rd) have also progressed.
England’s Phil Salt has galloped to 20th position and India’s Yashaswi Jaiswal has moved to 14th position in the list led by his team-mate Suryakumar Yadav.
Harry Tector (up one place seventh) and Curtis Campher (up 19 places to 73rd) moved up the batting rankings while Mark Adair (up nine places to 24th), Andy McBrine (up two places to 27th) and Joshua Little (up 28 places to 34th) have all gained in the latest update.
KL Rahul (up two places to 16th) has also moved up the batting rankings while New Zealand’s Trent Boult (up one place to seventh) and Bangladesh’s Shoriful Islam (up 14 places to 59th) have pro-gressed in the bowling rankings.
The latest update to the Test rankings sees Australia opener David Warner move up nine slots to 27th after scoring 164 in the first innings of the first Test against Pakistan while Usman Khawaja’s scores of 41 and 90 have lifted him three places to fourth. Opener Imam Ul Haq (up one place to 29th) and Agha Salman (up two places to 32nd) are the Pakistan batters to advance.
On the other hand, England leg-spinner Adil Rashid has ascended two spots to grab the top post from Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (now second) and India’s Ravi Bishnoi (third) on the T20I rankings for bowlers.
Rashid is the second player from England to bag the No 1 ranking of T20I bowlers after off-spinner Graeme Swann held the top spot more than a decade ago.
After scoring a quick century in the final match of India’s series against South Africa, Suryakumar Yadav extended his lead by 100 rating points in T20I. His nearest competitors are Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan (2nd) and Aiden Markram (3rd) of South Africa.
After his performance against Pakistan lately, Australia’s Usman Khawaja has moved up three places to fourth spot in the Test and within striking reach of the top-ranked Kane Williamson.
Khawaja’s teammate David Warner has also jumped nine spots to 27th and Mitchell Marsh improved 12 places to equal 68th after a good performance against Pakistan.
