India pacer Mohammed Siraj has attained the no.1 ranking in the latest update of the ICC ODI players’ rankings on Wednesday, January 25, 2023. This has come after brilliant performances over a period of the last 12 months in the 50-over format.
In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Siraj emerged as the perfect foil for Mohammad Shami and other bowlers that the Indian team tried out to find that perfect bowling combination with the new ball. He picked wickets upfront giving his team the best start possible.
Siraj has collected 37 wickets from 20 matches to be one of India's most consistent fast bowlers and the accolades have started to pile in for the underrated 28-year-old. He was recently named in the ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year for 2022 as well.
Now he has lept-frog the likes of Boult and Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood to become the top-ranked ODI bowler for the very first time.
Siraj took nine wickets against Sri Lanka to be the leading wicket-taker for the three-game series and backed that up by claiming a four-wicket haul in the 1st ODI of the recently concluded ODI series against New Zealand.
He now has 729 rating points with a lead of just two points over Hazlewood.
Apart from Siraj, fellow seamer Mohammad Shami jumped 11 places to 32nd overall on the updated list for ODI bowlers.
In the batting list, Shubman Gill, who was the Player of the Series for a record run haul against New Zealand, which included a double century, jumped a whopping 20 spots to land at 6th position in the ODI batting rankings.
He is followed by Virat Kohli in seventh, while Rohit jumps two places to equal eighth after his quickfire hundred against the Kiwis in Indore.
(ICC inputs)
