Pakistan cricketers received a massive boost on the ICC ODI rankings just months before the 2025 Champions Trophy tournament commences in the country. The Men in Green pulled off an amazing victory by 2-1 against Australia in the recently-concluded ODI series. This was the team’s first series victory in Australia in 22 years.
Pacer Shaheen Afridi re-claimed the top spot on the latest ODI bowler rankings. This comes after he picked up 8 wickets in th3 ODI series against Australia at a brilliant average of 12.62.
It saw Afridi move up three places and take the pole position from South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj, who fell down to the third spot. On the other hand, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan remained second. Afridi previously held the number 1 spot on the bowlers ranking midway through last year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India.
Afridi’s teammate Haris Rauf jumped 14 places to 13th overall and reached a new career-high rating following his 10 wickets and Player of the Series heroics against Australia. Another Pakistan pacer, Naseem Shah also went up by 14 places to reach the 55th position.
Afridi’s rise to the top of the bowling charts means that Pakistan now have the top-ranked player in both batting and bowling in ODI cricket, with former skipper Babar Azam increasing his lead at the top of the batter charts following his total of 80 runs in the Australia series.
On the other hand, new skipper Mohammad Rizwan also made gains on the list for ODI batters and reached the 23rd position following his 74 runs in Australia.
