ICC ODI Rankings: Shubman Gill takes over No 1 batters' spot from Babar Azam, joins elite list of Indian cricketers

India opener Shubman Gill overtook Pakistan skipper Babar Azam to claim the number one spot for batters in the latest ICC ODI rankings released on Wednesday. Gill rising to the top in ODIs means that Babar Azam’s stint as the No 1 batter in the 50-over format comes to end after more than two years. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table With the feat, Gill became the fourth Indian cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to become the top-ranked batter in ODIs. The Punjab-born cricketer now has 830 rating points, with Babar behind him in second place with 824 rating points. South Africa opener Quinton de Kock is third with 171 points.

Shubman Gill had missed India’s first two matches of the ongoing Cricket World Cup after he was infected with dengue, but has played all six of his team’s matches in the tournament since. The 24-year-old has so far scored 219 runs from six matches, including fifties against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Babar has aggregating 282 runs from eight matches with four fifties to his name. Virat Kohli, who recently equalled Sachin Tendulkar for most ODI centuries, surged into the top five of the batters’ list, climbing three spots to fourth place. Kohli, who has scored 543 runs from eight matches in the World Cup, has 770 points, just one behind de Kock. Shreyas Iyer jumped 17 places to 18th place in the batting charts whereas Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman (11th place) and Afghanistan’s Ibrahim Zadran (12th) also made significant improvements in the rankings. Mohammed Siraj continues to be the numero uno bowler in ODIs with 709 rating points. Kuldeep Yadav jumped three places to fourth, Jasprit Bumrah went up three spots to eighth and Mohammed Shami climbed seven places to 10th place. South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj climbed the ladder to second place with Adam Zampa in third place, improving from his previous spot of ninth. Shaheen Afridi was the top-ranked bowler in ODIs last week, but he went down to joint-fifth place, with Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood.