Colombo: India opener Shubman Gill has attained a career-best second position and is now only behind Pakistan captain Babar Azam in the ICC Men’s ODI Rankings, the latest update of which was released on Wednesday.
Gill,who has slammedtwo half-centuries while amassing 154 runs in the ongoing Asia Cup, has 759 rating points and is the highest-ranked among three India players who are now in the top 10 of the ranking for the batters in ODIs, the first time this happened since January 2019.
Captain Rohit Sharma and talismanic batter Virat Kohli have gained two places each and are sitting in eighth and ninth positions, respectively. Sharma also scored a half-century against Sri Lanka on Tuesday while Kohli advances in the rankings thanks to his unbeaten 122 against Pakistan.
Sharma, Kohli and veteran left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan were the three batters in the top 10 in that instance more than four years ago while those three were also in the top six of the batting table back in September 2018.
Indian batting pair of KL Rahul (up 10 places to 37th) and Ishan Kishan (up two places to 22nd) have also made significant moves in the rankings, while left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav has gained five places to reach seventh position in the men’s ODI bowler rankings after grabbing nine wickets in two Asia Cup matches.
India’s fast-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is also up eight places to 27th place on his return to ODIs, while all-rounder Hardik Pandya (up 21 places to 56th) in the bowlers rankings and is also up four places to sixth among all-rounders list.
Pakistan also has three batters in the top 10 of batters’ rankings, with Azam at the top and enjoys a lead of more than 100 rating points over Gill. Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman lost some positions to be at fifth and tenth place, respectively.
In South Africa, captain Temba Bavuma has closed in on a top-10 place after striking three centuries and two half-centuries in his last eight ODIs. He has advanced 21 places to 11th position while his previous best was 25th.
Australia players Davis Warner (up one place to fourth), Travis Head (up six places to 20th) and Marnus Labuschagne (up 24 places to 45th) have made significant progress too in the batters’ rankings.
New Zealand’s left-arm pacer Trent Boult is up to joint-second place among bowlers while Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa is in the top five of the bowling rankings for the first time after taking four wickets in the second match against South Africa.
Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf has soared eight spots and is in 21st positionand is followed by his fellow pacerNaseem Shah (up 11 spots to equal 51st), while South Africa spinners Keshav Maharaj (up 10 places to 25th) and Tabraiz Shamsi (up 15 places to 29th) are among the bowlers to move up the rankings led by Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood.
–IANS