ICC World Cup 2023: Shubman Gill dethrones Babar Azam; becomes No 1 Men’s ODI batter

Shubman Gill has dethroned Pakistan skipper Babar Azam to become the highest-ranking ICC Men’s batter in ODIs. Babar Azam reigned as the top ODI batter for more than two-years. Shubman Gill’s electrifying performance against Sri Lanka helped him amass 219 runs in six innings in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 tournament. 

Virat Kohli is on the fourth spot and Rohit Sharma is on the sixth spot. Gill is the fourth Indian player after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to have bagged the No 1 rank. 

While the young gun jumped one spot to claim the top-most rank, Kohli jumped three spots. Shreyas Iyer climbed 17 places to grab the 18th spot. 

It is not only the batting side, the batting side is also led by Indian bowler Mohammed Siraj, who improved two spots. ICC stated that the bowling rankings look rather different than how it did when the World Cup 2023 tournament began. Four of India’s bowlers are now featured on the list.

Siraj has been ranked as the top-most bowler, followed by Kuldeep Yadav on the fourth spot, Jasprit Bumrah on the eighth spot and Mohammad Shami on the 10th spot. 

The Men in Blue’s impressive campaigning at the World Cup 2023 has ensured that a bevy of stars feature on ICC’s lists of top players. India is currently at the No 1 spot with eight consecutive wins and a run rate of +2.456. The team became the first to qualify for the semi-finals. 

India won its first World Cup 2023 match against Australia by 6 wickets with 52 balls to spare, against Afghanistan by 8 wickets with 90 balls to spare, against Pakistan by 7 wickets, against Bangladesh by 7 wickets with 51 balls to spare, against New Zealand by 4 wickets and 12 balls to spare, against England by 100 runs, against Sri Lanka by 302 runs and against South Africa by 243 runs. 

Not only ODIs, Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav is the highest-ranked T20I batter and Hardik Pandya is the second-highest ranked T20I all-rounder. 

When it comes to Test matches, Ravichandran Ashwin is the highest-ranked bowler, followed by Ravindra Jadeja on the third spot, and Jasprit Bumrah on the 10th spot. Ravindra Jadeja is the highest-ranked Test all-rounder, followed by Ravichandran Ashwin on the second spot, and Akshar Patel on the 5th spot. 

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