Babar Azam topples Virat Kohli to become world's no 1 batsman

Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam has dethroned India’s Virat Kohli to become the No.1 ranked ODI batsman in ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings.

The 26-year-old Babar is only the fourth Pakistani to attain the number one position, ending Kohli’s 1,258 day-supremacy.

Zaheer Abbas (1983-84), Javed Miandad (1988-89), and Mohammad Yousuf (2003) are the only three Pakistanis in the past to attain the top spot.

Babar scored a brilliant 82-ball 94 in the last ODI, part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League series against South Africa in Centurion, helping him to gain 13 rating points to reach 865 points and he now leads the Indian captain by eight points.

On the other hand, Left-handed opener Fakhar Zaman has gained five slots to reach a career-best seventh position after his knock of 101 in the final ODI while pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has moved up four places to a career-best 11th place in bowlers’ rankings.

Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz (up 29 places to 96th) has progressed thanks to their three-wicket hauls in the match.

In ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings, wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan has jumped to 24 places to 23rd position while Nawaz (up 36 places to 28), Hasan Ali (up 22 places to 62nd) and Usman Qadir (up 24 places to 68th) have moved up the bowlers’ list.