DUBAI – Pakistan’s top order batsman, Babar Azam has moved to the secondspot in the ICC ODI ranking for the batsmen, just behind India’s captain,Virat Kohli.
Babar got the major jump in ODI ranking due to Joe Root’s failure in thefive-match series against Australia, where he could only manage 104 runswith only one half-century to his name, which pushed him to the sixthposition.
On the other hand, David Warner, who is suspended by the Cricket Australiafor 12 months in the ball-tampering saga, has also lost his domination inthe ranking table.
Babar Azam has not played an ODI since January this year, but hisconsistent run with the bat for Pakistan has given him the spot in ICC ODIranking for batsmen.
The man, who is also the top-ranked T20I batsman, has scored 1,789 runs in41 50-over games at an average of 51.11 with the courtesy of sevencenturies.
England’s batsmen Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler hada wonderful outing against Australia in the five-match ODI series. Bairstowand Buttler benefitted from their form and got the 11th and 16th positionin the ranking.
Whereas, Pakistan’s right-arm pacer Hasan Ali has got the third position inthe ODI ranking for bowlers, behind India’s Jasprit Bumrah (1st) andAfghanistan’s Rashid Khan (2nd).
After conceding a white-wash against England, Australia has slipped down tothe sixth position in the ODI ranking. Pakistan have got the fifth rank,leading Kangaroos by just one point.