In the recent ICC ranking updates Pakistani bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi has returned to the top of the ODI rankings, giving Pakistani Cricketers a double at the top, with Babar Azam maintaining his position as the format’s top batsman.
In three appearances against Australia, Afridi claimed eight wickets at an average of 12.62, surpassing Kuldeep Yadav, Rashid Khan, and Keshav Maharaj to take the top spot. While Maharaj dropped from first to third and Kuldeep dropped one spot to fourth, Rashid stayed at number two. After briefly holding the top spot during the 2023 ODI World Cup, Afridi has now achieved this feat twice.
After taking 10 wickets in the ODIs against Australia, which earned him a Player-of-the-Series award, Haris Rauf rose 14 spots to 13th place. Naseem Shah also rose 14 ranks to a career-high 55th place. Babar maintains his first position and a significant lead over the Indian duo of Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and Rohit Sharma, who are still in second, third, and fourth place, respectively.
Following the Afghanistan-Bangladesh ODI series in the United Arab Emirates, all-rounders from both sides saw significant gains. Three Afghan players are in the top ten after Player of the Series Mohammad Nabi maintained his position as the best ODI all-rounder, Rashid moved up to third, while Azmatullah Omarzai’s impressive performance moved him up two spots to No. 9. Mehidy Hasan Miraz of Bangladesh shot up four spots to No. 4 after taking three wickets in the series and scoring 66 in the 3rd one.
Despite hobbling through the second match, where he collected 4 for 17, Wanindu Hasaranga’s series tally of 6 for 37 against New Zealand moved him up four spots to second rank among bowlers in T20Is, only behind Adil Rashid of England.
Ravi Bishnoi’s four wickets in two games against South Africa moved him up one spot to No. 7, while Akeal Hosein’s economical performance against England moved him up to third place. After two games of the five-match series in the Caribbean, the batting rankings saw a one-place increase for each of the England duo of Phil Salt (second) and Jos Buttler (sixth), as well as Nicholas Pooran (10th) of the West Indies.
Sanju Samson kept getting better at batting rankings in the current South Africa-India T20I series. With a 50-ball 107 in the opening match, the India opener jumped 27 spots to 39th place after scoring consecutive T20I centuries. The South African pair of Tristan Stubbs (up 12 ranks to 26th) and Reeza Hendricks (up 2 spots to 12th) also made progress in the T20I batting list, which is still crowned by Travis Head. The top three T20I batters are Head, Salt, and Suryakumar Yadav.
