Pakistan Pace Shaheen Afridi has raised to the No.1 spot in the ODI Bowlers rankings after the Men in Green’s impressive bowling against Bangladesh in the ongoing ODI World Cup. The left-arm pacer rose to the No.1 ranking on the latest MRF Tyres ODI Bowling Rankings.
Shaheen Afridi picked up 3/23 in nine overs as the Men in Green easily beat the Bangla Tiger in Kolkata. The left-arm speedster removed Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto in his first two overs. He then bowled Mahmudullah with wonderful flair to clinch his three-wicket haul in the game and is currently the joint-leading wicket-taker (16 Wickets) for the tournament alongside Adam Zampa.
Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj, and Keshav Maharaj all dropped a spot below in the ICC ODI Bowling rankings due to the rise of Shaheen Afridi to the top spot of the points. For the first time in any format, Afridi is ranked number one and would be keen to do well for the team across the formats.
Shaheen Afridi can move the ball in both directions and also possesses a respectable speed to trouble opponents with both new and old balls. The 23-year-old has the potential to be a great player if he continues his work ethic and gets the most out of unfavourable surfaces.
In batting, Babar Azam continues to hold a slim lead at the top of the comparable batting list despite his indifferent form in the ongoing ODI World Cup, Pakistani players are holding the top spot in two ODI categories at the same time. The right-hander has scored only 216 runs from seven innings, and Shubman Gill of India has only managed 104 runs from four games to be ranked second in the list.
Inform Quinton de Kock takes the third spot with his brilliant performance in the World Cup and Veteran Australian opener David Warner moved up to fourth place at the World Cup after scoring 413 runs, and India captain Rohit Sharma moved up three spots to fifth place after scoring 398 runs in the competition.
Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh continues to lead the ODI all-rounder rankings, with South Africa’s Marco Jansen moving up two spots to ninth place, India’s Hardik Pandya dropping to 11th spot in the ranking and New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra moving up fourteen spots to 17th.
