Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi dethroned Australia’s Josh Hazlewood to become the new no.1 bowler in the latest update of the ICC ODI players’ rankings. He did so after his 3/23 against Bangladesh in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023.
The left-arm pacer recently broke Mitchell Starc’s record for the fastest pacer to 100 ODI wickets and has become the joint-highest wicket-taker in the ongoing CWC 2023 tournament along with Adam Zampa with 16 wickets each.
Shaheen’s three wickets helped Pakistan defeat Bangladesh by 7 wickets and keep their hopes for semi-final qualification alive. He also catapulted 9 spots in the ICC ODI bowling rankings to become no.1. This is the first time Afridi has held the No.1 ranking in any format.
Australia's Josh Hazlewood (second), India's Mohammed Siraj (third), and South Africa's Keshav Maharaj (fourth) all lose one place thanks to Shaheen’s leap. On the other hand, Kuldeep Yadav (seventh) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (eighth) both gained two places inside the top 10.
This also means that that Pakistan now has the no.1 ranked players in both the ODI bowling rankings and ODI batting rankings, with Babar Azam holding the top spot.
The right-hander has a total of 216 runs from seven innings at the World Cup and his closest challenger in India's Shubman Gill has not yet been able to capitalize with just 104 runs from four knocks.
Australia opener David Warner has risen one place to fourth on the back of his 413 runs at the World Cup while India skipper Rohit Sharma improves three spots to fifth following his 398 runs for the tournament.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan maintains his lead at the top of the rankings for ODI all-rounders. Marco Jansen moved up two spots to ninth and New Zealand youngster Rachin Ravindra climbed 14 spots to 17th.
(ICC inputs)
