Shaheen Afridi claims top spot in ICC ODI bowlers rankings, Babar’s lead at top squeezes to two points

New Delhi [India]: Pakistan’s star pacer Shaheen Afridi asserted his dominance in the ODIs by becoming the No.1 50-over format bowler in the latest rankings as he continues to lead the charge for the Men in Green in the ongoing World Cup.

Afridi has lived up to the expectations for Pakistan at the ODI World Cup and his three-wicket haul against Bangladesh made him the joint leading wicket-taker for the tournament alongside Australia spinner Adam Zampa as the pace spin duo have claimed 16 wickets each in the campaign. It also helped him leapfrog to claim the No.1 spot in the ICC ODI bowler rankings.

His three-wicket haul was crucial in ensuring Pakistan’s triumph over Bangladesh in Kolkata on Tuesday which has kept his side’s semi-final hopes alive.

On the other hand, Australia’s Josh Hazlewood (second), India’s Mohammed Siraj (third) and South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj (fourth) all lost one place in the rankings. The spin duo Kuldeep Yadav (seventh) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (eighth) both gained two places inside the top 10.

Afridi for the first time in his career moved to the No.1 ranking in any format.
In ODI batting rankings, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam’s lead at the top has taken a further hit and he is ahead by just two rating points. His nine runs against Bangladesh also played a role in his downslide.

His closest competitor Shubman Gill has failed to capitalise on the opportunity as he has just scored 104 runs from four knocks in the World Cup. But he is slowly making gains.

Experienced Australia opener David Warner rose one place to fourth on the back of his 413 runs at the World Cup while India skipper Rohit Sharma improved three spots to move to the fifth spot following his 398 runs scored in the tournament.

Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards has shown major improvement on the list of ODI batters as he moved 11 places to move to the 16th spot.

Coming to the all-rounder rankings Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan maintains his lead at the top, while South Africa left-armer Marco Jansen has shown improvement as he moved two spots up to ninth and New Zealand youngster Rachin Ravindra climbed 14 spots to reach 17th place.