LAHORE – Pakistan’s opening batsman Fakhar Zaman has entered into thetop-20 for the first time in his career in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI PlayerRankings link.
The rankings were released on Sunday following the conclusion of the WestIndies-Bangladesh series and also incorporate player performances from theZimbabwe-Pakistan series.
Zaman scored 515 runs in the series and has gained a total of 22 places tomove into 16th position.
Zaman was 24th when the player rankings were last updated on July 17following the England versus India series, and the three ODIs betweenZimbabwe and Pakistan, but his knocks of 210 not out in the fourth ODI and85 in the final ODI helped him to gain eight more places.
After the fifth and final ODI against Zimbabawe concluded, the 28-year-oldbecame the fastest batsman to score 1,000 runs in one-day international(ODI) history after breaking the 38-year record of Sir Viv Richard.
Fakhar is now the second Pakistan batsman to feature in the top-20 afterBabar Zaman reclaimed the second spot after finishing the series with 184runs. Babar now leads England’s Joe Root by seven points, while the list isheaded by India’s Virat Kohli.
Fakhar’s opening partner Imam-ul-Haq has also made a massive impact inthe latest batsman rankings.
Imam had gained 70 places after the first three ODIs, and moved up another51 spots to finish the Zimbabwe tour in the 43rd position. In the fiveODIs, the 22-year-old has gained 121 positions, thanks to his seriesaggregate of 395 runs that also included three centuries.
In the bowling table Pakistan wrist-spinner Shadab Khan and fast bowlerFaheem Ashraf have made upward movements. Both bowlers collected ninewickets apiece in the series, and as such, Shadab has finished in 31stposition (he started the series in 53rd position) and Faheem has ended upin 79th position (he started the series ranked 149th).
Jasprit Bumrah of India is the No.1-ranked bowler and is followed by RashidKhan of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Hasan Ali.
Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh is the no 1 all rounder and is followed byMohammad Nabi of Afghansitan and Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez.
The player rankings will now be updated at the conclusion of Sri Lanka andSouth Africa ODI series.