Pakistan’s ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has been replaced at the summit of the International Cricket Council (ICC) men’s ODI bowling rankings on Wednesday.
As per the latest ranking update, the left-arm pacer was pipped by Afghanistan’s leg-spinner Rashid Khan, while South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj remained third.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, who soared to the top after taking eight wickets at an average of 12.62 in Pakistan’s historic ODI series victory over Australia, was rested from the ongoing series against Zimbabwe.
His bowling partner, Haris Rauf, who was named the Player of the Series in Pakistan’s 2-1 routing of Australia, also suffered a decline, slipping two places to 15th.
Emerging opener Saim Ayub, who scored a swashbuckling century in Pakistan’s 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the second ODI of the ongoing three-match series on Tuesday, jumped 80 places to 90th in the men’s ODI batting rankings, continued to be led by star batter Babar Azam.
On the other hand, India’s right-arm speedster Jasprit Bumrah reclaimed the top position in the Test bowling rankings after leading his side to a historic 295-run victory over Australia in the opening Test of the five-match series in Perth on Monday.
The right-arm pacer’s match figures of 8/72 helped him overtake Australia’s Josh Hazlewood and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada to secure the top spot with career-best 883 rating points – the highest by an Indian pacer in the format.
Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (904) and Ravindra Jadeja (899) are the only other bowlers from the country to register higher rating points than Bumrah’s 833.
This is the third time this year that Jasprit Bumrah has secured the top spot in Test rankings, the previous such instances were his one-month each stints during February and October.
On the batting front, India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, who scored magnificent centuries in their team’s come-from-behind victory also made gains.
Jaiswal replaced England’s Harry Brook and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson to reach a career-best second position, only behind Joe Root, while Kohli jumped nine places to claim 13th position in the rankings.
