Pakistan’s star batsman, Babar Azam, has once again ascended to the pinnacle of the ICC ODI batsmen rankings, displacing Shubman Gill, who now occupies the second position.

This shift occurred following Gill’s absence from the ongoing ODI series against South Africa. Babar currently commands the top spot with an impressive 824 rating points, while Gill trails closely behind at second place with 810 points.

King Babar Azam has regained the throne as the Number 1 ODI Batter in the world 😭❤️#BabarWeBelieveInYou pic.twitter.com/GPL0T3DZ40

— SAAD 🇵🇰 (@SaadIrfan258) December 20, 2023

Opener Usman Khawaja with 808 rating points (up three places to fourth) moves in front of Babar and within striking distance of top-ranked Kiwi Kane Williamson (864 rating points) on the updated rankings for Test batters, while teammates David Warner (up nine spots to 27th) and Mitchell Marsh (improves 12 places to equal 68th) also make some ground after good knocks against Pakistan.

Babar’s sub-par performance in the first Test against Australia, which Pakistan lost by 360 runs, saw him dropping one place from fourth to fifth position (801 rating points). His contributions in the Perth Test included scoring 21 runs in the first innings and 14 runs in the second innings.

Australia quartet Pat Cummins (up one place to third), Nathan Lyon (up three spots to fifth), Mitchell Starc (up two places to eighth) and Josh Hazlewood (up two spots to 10th) have all made ground inside the top 10 as India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin continues to hold sway at the top. Meanwhile, Shaheen Afridi has dropped seven places to 12th spot in Test bowlers’ rankings.

On the other hand, Adil Rashid has been rewarded for his good consistent form in the Caribbean as he moves up two places and takes the top spot from Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (second) and India’s Ravi Bishnoi (third) on the T20I rankings for bowlers as a host of England and West Indies players make their move less than six months out from the start of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Suryakumar’s lead at the top of T20I batters’ rankings is now out to a total of 100 rating points after his quickfire century in the final game of India’s series against South Africa, with Pakistan veteran Mohammad Rizwan (second) and South Africa dasher Aiden Markram (third) his closest rivals.