Team India batter Shubman Gill. (Photo: AP)
Team India opener Shubman Gill has risen to career-best No. 2 position in the ICC ODI Ranking following his back-to-back half-centuries against Nepal and Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2023 matches over the last week. Gill has moved up one place up to second place in the latest ICC ODI ranking with 759 ranking points.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam continues to be in the No. 1 position with 863 points while South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen has slipped one place to third position with 745 points.
Gill, who had scored 58 and figured in a 121-run opening partnership with captain Rohit Sharma in the Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 match against Pakistan, has moved up one spot while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have gained two places each and are sitting in eighth and ninth positions, respectively.
Team India captain Rohit Sharma also scored a half-century against Sri Lanka this past week while Kohli advances thanks to his unbeaten 122 against Pakistan. Rohit , Kohli and 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.
— ICC (@ICC) September 13, 2023
Pakistan also have three batters in the top 10 less than a month from the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Captain Babar Azam is at the top and enjoys a lead of more than 100 rating points over Gill, while Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman are in fifth and 10 positions, respectively.
India’s left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav has gained five places to reach seventh position after grabbing nine wickets in two Asia Cup 2023 matches. Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf has soared eight spots and is in 21st position while India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (up eight places to 27th) and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (up 21 places to 56th) have also made big gains. Pandya is also up four places to sixth among all-rounders.
The latest weekly update, that also considers performances in three matches of the South Africa-Australia series and two matches of the England-New Zealand series, South Africa’s 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 as has the Indian pair of KL Rahul (up 10 places to 37th) and Ishan Kishan (up two places to 22nd).
Aiden Markram, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Liam Livingstone, Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway are among others to gain in the latest update. New Zealand’s 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.
South Africa spinners Keshav Maharaj (up 10 places to 25th) and Tabraiz Shamsi (up15 places to 29th) are among others to move up the rankings.