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In the men’s ODI batting rankings, Shubman Gill has
surpassed Babar Azam to take the top spot. Mohammed Siraj has displaced Shaheen
Shah Afridi from the top spot and moved up two ranks to become the
highest-ranked bowler in the One-Day International format.
The top of the bowling table actually has a very
Indian appearance, with Kuldeep Yadav currently in the top five and Mohammed
Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Virat Kohli in the top ten. Virat Kohli, on the
other hand, has moved up three spots to No. 4 among the batters after two
undefeated centuries and four half-centuries at the World Cup, trailing only
Quinton de Kock, who is currently leading run-scorer at the tournament, by one
rating point.
In 26 matches this year, Gill has amassed 1449 runs
from four centuries, including a double century. He has had an outstanding year
in ODI cricket. Compared to his career average of 61.02, he has an astounding
63.00 average for the year. After being removed from the World Cup at the
beginning due to dengue, he had a poor start. However, he has since amassed 219
runs in six innings, including fifty against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
With four half-centuries in eight innings, Babar
hasn’t had a bad World Cup himself, but he needed to do more to hang onto the
position he’d held for more than two years because of the narrow margin between
him and the rising Gill.
After Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, and Virat Kohli,
Gill is now the fourth player from India to hold the top spot in the ICC
rankings for ODI batting.
Siraj has risen from third to first place after going
3 for 16 and 1 for 11 against South Africa and Sri Lanka, respectively, earlier
in the week. Afridi, who was ranked first the week before, is now ranked fifth,
while spinners Keshav Maharaj and Adam Zampa—who is presently tied for second
place in the World Cup in terms of wicket-taking—move up to ranks two and
three.
For the Indians, Shami has moved up seven spots to
tenth, Bumrah has moved up three spaces to eighth, and Kuldeep has moved up
three spots to fourth.