Rohit Sharma secured career best first position in latest ICC ranking

DUBAI: Indian opener Rohit Sharma has achieved the number one position in the ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings for the first time.

In the three-match series against Australia, Rohit, after scoring 73 runs in Adelaide, scored an unbeaten 121 runs in Sydney and was declared the best player of the series.

As a result of this performance, he left behind Afghanistan’s Ibrahim Zadran and captain Shubman Gill with 781 rating points.

This is the first time that Rohit has become the number one in ODIs; before that, he reached the second position in July 2018.

On the other hand, Ibrahim Zadran briefly became the first Afghanistan batsman to top the ODI rankings when Gul slipped down between the second and third matches, and Rohit was yet to move up.

Indian vice-captain Shreyas Iyer has moved up one place to ninth, while Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has moved up two places to eighth.

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa has also moved up two places to 12th. Indian spinners Axar Patel has moved up six places to 31st, and Washington Sundar has moved up 22 places to 73rd.

England captain Harry Brooke has moved up 23 places to a career-best 25th position after playing a brilliant innings of 135 runs against New Zealand at Mount Manganoi.

In the Test rankings, Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel has moved up one place to 12th and captain Shan Masood has moved up five places to 42nd, while South Africa’s Tony de Zorzi has moved up seven places to 47th.

South Africa’s spinner Keshav Maharaj has moved up nine places to 13th, having taken nine wickets against Pakistan in the Rawalpindi Test. Simon Harmer has moved up 26 places to 45th after taking six wickets in the second innings.