As a result of India’s undefeated start to the Asia Cup, a huge number of their players have made ground on the most recent edition of the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Batter Rankings, putting Pakistan’s dominant position at the top of the rankings in jeopardy.
India has not yet been defeated at the Asia Cup, and a significant portion of their success can be attributed to a dominant top order that has been excellently guided by Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma, who is also serving as the team’s captain.
The right-hander has been rewarded in the latest rankings by advancing to a career-best second-placed position, with only the Pakistan captain Babar Azam ahead of him. Gill already has two half-centuries at the competition, for a total of 154 runs.
The distance between Babar, who leads the way with 863 rating points, and the India opener, who has 759 points, has shrunk to just 103 rating points as a result of Gill’s performance, who has come a long way in narrowing the gap between himself and the Pakistan captain.
On the most recent batter rankings, India now has three players inside the top 10 for the first time in over four and a half years, with Kohli moving up two places to eighth and Rohit jumping two spaces of his own to ninth. Gill is not India’s only rising star, as Kohli also moved up two places to eighth and Rohit jumped two spots of his own to ninth.
You have to go all the way back to the beginning of 2019 to discover the last time India had three players this high in the rankings for ODI batters. Opener Shikhar Dhawan joined Rohit and Virat inside the top 10 rankings all the way back in January of that year. This is the first time India has had three players this high in the rankings for ODI batters since 2019.
Imam-ul-Haq has dropped one spot and is now fifth, and fellow opener Fakhar Zaman has dropped three spots and is now 10th. Pakistan still has three players of their own inside the top 10 batters, but Imam-ul-Haq is now fifth and Fakhar Zaman is now 10th.
The veteran India spinner Kuldeep Yadav has also made some progress on the new list for one-day international bowlers. The left-armer has moved up five places to seventh as a result of his nine wickets at the Asia Cup, while his teammate Hardik Pandya has moved up four places to sixth on the list of ODI all-rounders.
There was also some good news for Pakistan’s bowlers in the latest rankings update. Pace combination Haris Rauf (up eight places to 21st) and Naseem Shah (up 11 positions to equal 51st) improved considerably despite picking up some niggling ailments during their most recent match against India. Haris Rauf moved up to 21st place, and Naseem Shah moved up to equal 51st place.
As a result of his three-wicket haul in the opening one-day international match of the present series between Australia and South Africa, seamer Josh Hazlewood of Australia extends his lead at the top of the ODI bowling rankings, while a number of his teammates and stars from the Proteas also make ground.
Keshav Maharaj (up 10 places to 25th) and Tabraiz Shamsi (up 15 spots to equal 29th) of South Africa improve on the list for ODI bowlers, while Temba Bavuma, the skipper of the Proteas, jumps a whopping 21 places to 11th and a new career-high rating on the rankings for ODI batters as a result of his impressive century in that series opener in Bloemfontein.
Following his lightning-fast half-century in the third match of the South Africa series, veteran batsman David Warner of Australia moves up one spot to fourth on the revised batter rankings. At the same time, left-handed batsman Travis Head of Australia moves up six spaces to 20th on the same list.
After the conclusion of England’s home series against New Zealand, there has been some movement in the rankings. This comes despite the fact that Twenty20 International cricket is currently taking something of a backseat in the run-up to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India.
New Zealand dasher Glenn Phillips has made the most significant advancement, moving up three spots to 11th on the latest rankings for Twenty20 International batters. His teammate Tim Seifert has moved up 32 spots to 21st, and Mark Chapman has moved up six places to joint 23rd.
Mitchell Santner (up four spots to 15th) and Ish Sodhi (up four positions to 16th) are the big movers on the updated T20I bowler rankings, while England veteran Jonny Bairstow improves a massive 31 places to 30th on the list for batters following his lightning-fast 73 in the final match of that series.