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[Saba Sports News] Star Pakistani batter Babar Azam has regained the top position in the ICC ODI batters rankings, surpassing Shubman Gill, who is now ranked second. This change follows Gill’s absence from the ongoing ODI series against South Africa. Babar leads with 824 rating points, while Gill is close behind with 810 points.
The third, fourth, and fifth spots in the rankings are held by Virat Kohli (775 ratings), Rohit Sharma (754 ratings), and David Warner (745 points), respectively. Kohli and Sharma, who recently took a break from white-ball cricket, are preparing for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Warner, engaged in a Test series for Australia against Pakistan, has indicated plans to retire from Test cricket after the series. His performance, including a century in the first match, has been pivotal in Australia’s dominance over Pakistan.
In Test cricket, Babar Azam fell from fourth to fifth place (801 rating points) following Pakistan’s loss to Australia by 360 runs in the first Test, where his contributions were 21 and 14 runs in the two innings. Babar had relinquished his captaincy after Pakistan’s underwhelming performance in the ICC World Cup, marked by four consecutive defeats.
In T20I bowling rankings, English spinner Adil Rashid has ascended to the top spot following his performance in the ongoing series against West Indies, claiming five wickets in three games. The series is currently tied 2-2 with one match remaining. Additionally, bowlers Tabraiz Shami and Kuldeep Yadav have also made gains in the T20I Bowler’s Rankings.