Gill reclaims No 1 spot among ODI batters

Dubai, July 30:

India captain Shubman Gill on Wednesday reclaimed the No. 1 spot in ICC rankings for batters in ODI cricket while young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi moved up a whopping 230 places to 48th in T20Is after his recent exploits against Zimbabwe.

Gill has replaced New Zealand batting mainstay Daryl Mitchell at the top spot in the ODI chart. Mitchell had held the top spot since January this year.

“There was some change at the top of the latest ODI rankings following the completion of the recent series between the West Indies and New Zealand as the absence of Black Caps’ right-hander Daryl Mitchell saw Shubman Gill move back to become the No.1 ranked batter in 50-over cricket,” the ICC said.

“Mitchell had held the top billing since January this year,” it added.

Sooryavanshi, who smacked two half-centuries in the recently-concluded India’s tour of Zimbabwe for three T20Is, scored 151 runs at 50.33 in his side’s 3-0 victory.

The 15-year-old batter rose as many as 230 spots to reach 48th in the list of T20I batters, which is led by compatriot Ishan Kishan with 910 rating points.

Kishan had recorded the third highest batting rating of all time behind Abhishek Sharma (931) and Dawid Malan (919) when he reached 916 points after the end of the second T20I against Zimbabwe.

Despite losing some rating points, Kishan maintains a healthy lead over the second-ranked Sahibzada Farhan (848).

“Sooryavanshi’s rating of 536 points is well adrift of his more experienced teammates, but Kishan can now boast of having a better career batter rating than more accomplished Indian players like Suryakumar Yadav (912) and Virat Kohli (909),” the ICC said.

Meanwhile, Tilak Varma moved up two positions to reach sixth while T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer jumped seven places to 24th.

Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi gained 31 positions to move to 41st in the list of T20I bowlers but Varun Chakravarthy, who missed the Zimbabwe tour due to an injury, dropped three places but remained in the top 10 rankings.

Zimbabwe’s Ryan Burl rose six positions to reach 85th in rankings for batters while Blessing Muzarabani jumped 10 spots to reach 26th among bowlers.

West Indies’ Justin Greaves was also rewarded for his impressive showing against Pakistan in the first Test. Greaves recorded five consecutive wicket-maidens in Tarouba as the West Indies beat Pakistan by 90 runs to take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series.

Greaves rose 21 spots to move to the 48th position among Test bowlers, and ninth in the list of all-rounders in the longest format.

Jayden Seales moved up to the 24th position while Pakistan’s Mohammad Abbas, who also recorded a five-for, jumped to the 17th spot.

Babar Azam reached 15th after his unbeaten fifty in the second innings.