Produced by: Bhoomika Designed by: Mohsin Shaikh
Star Indian opener Shubman Gill has overtaken Pakistan skipper Babar Azam as the top ODI batter in ICC rankings. Shubman, who scored 92 runs in India’s match against South Africa, just a few runs short of making his debut World Cup century, has become the top run scorer in ICC tournaments in a short span of his career
While Shubman Gill has made a total of 219 runs in just six innings, Babar Azam scored 282 runs in 8 matches of the ongoing World Cup. Due to a lacklustre performance in World Cup, Babar Azam suffered a drop of six rating points and fell below Gill into the second spot, two years after reigning as the No.1 ODI batter
Shubman Gill is the fourth Indian batter after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to bag the coveted spot in the ICC ODI rankings. Shubman Gill has a rating of 830. His career-best rating is 847 vs Australia on September 24. He was earlier adjudged as the ICC Player of the Month in September
Meanwhile, Australia's Glenn Maxwell has also risen by 7 positions in the ICC ODI rankings after his double century in the Australia vs Afghanistan World Cup match
- 4th Position - Virat Kohli - 770 rating, 911 vs England on July 12, 2018 career-best rating - 6th Position - Rohit Sharma - 739 rating, 885 vs Sri Lanka on June 6, 2019 career-best rating - 18th Position - Shreyas Iyer - 643 rating, 673 vs Bangladesh on December 7, 2022
Right-arm fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has reclaimed his top spot in the ICC ODI bowling ranking. He has a rating of 709. His career-best is 736 vs New Zealand on January 20, 2023
- 3rd Position - Kuldeep Yadav - 661 rating - 8th Position - Jasprit Bumrah - 654 rating - 10th Position - Mohammed Shami - 635 rating - 19th Position - Ravindra Jadeja - 593 rating
While we are rejoicing Shubman Gill's historic feat, let us revisit his journey from being trained by his father in farm fields in Punjab to becoming a star player in the Indian Cricket Team
Born to Lakhwinder Singh in Punjab's Chak Khere Wala village, Shubman Gill's dream to become a cricketer was fueled by father who himself wanted to become a cricketer but could not do so due to lack of means. Shubman started practising at a tender age of 3 under the aegis of his father. By the time he was 9, his father made his play 1500 short balls daily, as per a report by TOI
Shubman Gill was made to play on charpoys to perfect his technique and finally moved to Mohali to join a cricket academy
Shubman made his First Class cricket debut for Punjab during their match against Bengal from November 17-19, 2017. He played 72 innings in 42 matches scoring 3,432 runs with the highest knock of 268 runs
Shubman made his international debut in the India vs New Zealand ODI match in 2019. However, he had a disappointing innings as he managed to score only nine runs before getting bowled out by Trent Boult
On January 18, Shubman became the youngest player to score a double century in ODI format with his knock of 208 runs against New Zealand
Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj's journey has not been easy. He was born into an impoverished family in Hyderabad. His father worked as an auto-rickshaw driver while his mother used to clean houses. Siraj’s father wanted him to become an engineer and get a decent-paying job
Mohammed Siraj, whose sporting career began with ‘gully’ cricket, was later spotted by cricket coaches who motivated him to play for state-level matches. After a tough selection process, Siraj started playing cricket leagues in Hyderabad. Since he had to travel distances to play matches, he started using a rickety motorcycle kept in his house
Mohammed Siraj’s first income was only Rs 500 for a club match. His uncle, who was the team’s captain, gave him the money as a prize for taking 9 wickets for 20 odd runs in the 25-over match. From playing with tennis balls in his village to wearing slippers to making his first-class debut in 2015 followed by his T20I debut in 2017, Siraj's journey has been nothing short of inspiring