Babar Azam dethrones Kohli in ICC rankings, becomes No. 1 ODI batsman

Virat Kohli drops to No. 2, finds himself removed from the top after 1,258 days.

Published : Apr 14, 2021 14:36 IST , DUBAI

Virat Kohli's long reign at the top of the ICC One-Day International rankings for batsmen was on Wednesday brought to an end by Pakistan's Babar Azam.

Babar's player-of-the-match effort (94 off 82 balls) in the last match of the series against South Africa in Centurion helped him gain 13 rating points to reach 865 points. He now leads the Indian captain by eight points.

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Babar, a star of the Under-19 World Cups in 2010 and 2012, and who has been playing ODIs since 2015, started the series against South Africa at 837 rating points but moved up to 858 (ahead of Kohli) after his score of 103 in the first match.

He dropped to 852 by the time of the last weekly rankings update with a score of 32 in the second ODI.

End of 1,258-day reign

By ending Kohli's 1,258-day supremacy, which adds up to over three years, Babar has emulated compatriots Zaheer Abbas (1983-84), Javed Miandad (1988-89), and Mohammad Yousuf (2003) as the No. 1 ODI batsman.

In Tests, Babar has attained a best of fifth position and is currently ranked sixth while in T20Is he is third but has been No. 1 in the past.

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Left-handed opener Fakhar Zaman is another Pakistan batsman to move up the ODI batting charts, gaining five slots to reach a career-best seventh position after his knock of 101.

Left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi (up four places to a career-best 11th) and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz (up 29 places to 96th) have progressed, thanks to their three-wicket hauls in the match.

Kohli's deputy, Rohit Sharma has mantained his second spot with 825 points ahead of New Zealand's Ross Taylor. No other Indian features in the latest top 10 batting chart.

Among bowlers, Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah has held on to his fourth position behind top-ranked Trent Boult of New Zealand, Afghanistan's Mujeeb Ur Rahman and another Kiwi pacer Matt Henry.

R. Ashwin is the lone Indian to find a place in the top 10 all-rounders' list at the No. 9 spot.

Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan leads the pack ahead of injured England all-rounder Ben Stokes and Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi.

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