Afridi and Babar Reign Supreme in ICC ODI Rankings

Pakistan's Shaheen Shah Afridi has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC ODI bowler rankings, while Babar Azam continues to dominate as the world's leading ODI batter. Afridi's impressive performances against Australia, where he claimed eight wickets at an average of 12.62, propelled him past Kuldeep Yadav, Rashid Khan, and Keshav Maharaj. This marks the second time Afridi has reached the summit of the ODI bowling rankings, having briefly held the position during the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Afridi's seam-bowling partner, Haris Rauf, also made significant progress, moving up 14 places to 13th after bagging 10 wickets in the ODI series against Australia. Naseem Shah also climbed 14 spots to a career-best 55th.

In the ODI batting rankings, Babar Azam extended his lead with scores of 37, 15*, and 28* against Australia. He remains well ahead of the Indian trio of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli, who occupy the second, third, and fourth positions, respectively.

The ODI all-rounder rankings saw significant movement following the ODI series between Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Player of the Series Mohammad Nabi retained his top spot, while Rashid Khan moved up to third. Azmatullah Omarzai's strong showing pushed him two places up to No. 9, giving Afghanistan three players in the top 10. Bangladesh's Mehidy Hasan Miraz jumped four places to No. 4 after taking three wickets and scoring 66 in the third ODI.

In T20Is, Wanindu Hasaranga's series haul of 6 for 37 against New Zealand lifted him four places to second spot among the bowlers, behind only England's Adil Rashid. Akeal Hosein's economical performance against England earned him third place, while Ravi Bishnoi's four scalps in two games against South Africa moved him up one spot to No. 7.

Among batters, the England pair of Phil Salt (second) and Jos Buttler (sixth), alongside West Indies' Nicholas Pooran (10th), all moved up one place each in the batting rankings after two games in the five-match series in the Caribbean. From the ongoing South Africa vs India T20I series, Sanju Samson continued his rise in the batting ranks. A second successive T20I century for the India opener, this time a 50-ball 107 in the first game, saw him leapfrog 27 positions to 39th. The South African duo of Reeza Hendricks (up two places to 12th) and Tristan Stubbs (up 12 spots to 26th) also made headway on the T20I batting charts that is still led by Travis Head. Salt and Suryakumar Yadav round off the top three.

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