Bad news for Pakistan’s Babar Azam, India captain Rohit Sharma has replaced him at No 2 position but number one is…
Pakistan’s Babar Azam had a ODI series to forget against the West Indies. The former Pakistan captain returned to international cricket after the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 debacle earlier this year but only managed to score 56 runs in the 3 games. Pakistan also lost an ODI series to West Indies for the first time after 34 years.
Babar Azam’s lean patch in the ODI series against West Indies means that the former world No. 1 batter has slipped down one position to the No. 3 slot in the latest ICC ODI rankings announced on Wednesday. Babar’s loss is India’s gain as ODI skipper Rohit Sharma has now become the No. 2-ranked ODI batter in the ICC rankings.
It also means that Team India now have the No. 1 and 2 ranked batters in the ICC ODI rankings. While Rohit is at the second spot, the top-ranked batter is new India Test captain Shubman Gill. The Indian opener has 784 points to Rohit Sharma’s 756 while Babar Azam has slipped to 751 points now.
Former India captain Virat Kohli is in No. 4 position in the ICC ODI rankings, which means India have 3 batters in the top 4 positions. Shreyas Iyer is the other Indian batter in the top 10 position, currently occupying the No. 8 slot.
When are Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli going to return to international cricket?
Team India veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have already announced their retirements from T20I and Test cricket. Rohit and Virat are only available to play in ODI cricket.
After the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 triumph earlier this year, India’s next ODI series is scheduled in October against world champions Australia down under. It is expected that both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be part of Team India squad for the three-match ODI series against Australia. It will probably be the final time that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be seen in international cricket in Australia.
Team India batters dominate ICC T20I rankings too
India are currently dominant in the ICC T20I batting rankings as well. Opener Abhishek Sharma continued to remain at the no. 1 position while Mumbai Indians batter Tilak Varma is currently in 2nd place.
Both Indian batters are expected to be part of Team India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2025 tournament starting in UAE on September 9.
In-form stars from Australia and South Africa have been the big winners and reached new career-high ratings following the latest update to the ICC men’s T20I Player Rankings. Australia’s Tim David is the leading run-scorer across the opening two matches of the T20I series between Australia and South Africa and the hard-hitting right-hander has improved six spots to jump to 10th overall for T20I batters with a new career-high rating as a result.
His teammate Cameron Green also gains six spots to rise to 17th on the same list, while youngster Dewald Brevis is the big winner from a South African perspective following his record-breaking exploits in the second game of the series in Darwin. Brevis exploded with a superb innings of 125 as the Proteas squared the three-match series against the Aussies at 1-1 and rocketed up the T20I Batting Rankings from outside the top 100 to 21st as a result.
It was the highest T20I score by any South African men’s batter and the highest ever against Australia in what was Brevis’s ninth T20I appearance for his country. South African teammate Tristan Stubbs (up 12 spots to equal 27th) also makes some gains for T20I batters, while Josh Hazlewood (up three spots to 20th), Kagiso Rabada (up 15 places to equal 44th) and Lungi Ngidi (up 14 rungs to 50th) are the improvers in the latest rankings for T20I bowlers.
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