Shubman Gill closes gap with Pakistan trio in ICC ODI rankings

There are some good signs for India’s best white-ball players less than two months out from the start of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, with a host of their stars making big ground in the latest ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings.

Inexperienced pair Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan were among India’s most prominent performers with the bat during their 2-1 ODI series triumph over the West Indies recently, with the pair combining for 310 runs over the three matches in an impressive display of top-order batting.

Both players were rewarded with new career-high ratings on the rankings list for batters that was updated by the ICC on Wednesday, with Gill improving two places to fifth overall to be within touching distance of a pair of Pakistan players.

While Pakistan skipper Babar Azam (886) remains well out in front in the ODI batter rankings, Gill rises to 743 rating points on the back of his excellent series against the West Indies and has third-placed Fakhar Zaman (755) and fourth-placed Imam-ul-Haq (745) well within his sight.

Kishan too earns a new career-best rating after jumping nine places to 36th overall, while experienced all-rounder Hardik Pandya improves 10 places to equal 71st following his efforts against the West Indies.

Pandya also rose five places to 11th overall on the list for ODI all-rounders, while it was left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav and underrated seamer Shardul Thakur that made the biggest impression on the rankings for ODI bowlers.

Kuldeep jumped four places and inside the top 10 at 10th following his seven wickets for the series against the West Indies, while Thakur – who led both sides with a series-best eight scalps – improves three spots to 30th.

While the West Indies didn’t experience much joy during the ODI series, they have made a fast start to the ongoing T20I series with India and a host of their players have been rewarded.

Power-hitter Nicholas Pooran (up six places to 14th) and Rovman Powell (up 17 spots to 32nd) are the two biggest beneficiaries on the T20I batter rankings, while pacer Alzarri Joseph (up 19 spots to 13th) and spinner Akeal Hosein (up six places to 14th) make giant strides up the list for T20I bowlers.

India newcomer Tilak Varma enters the batter rankings at 46th following a flying start to his international career and Kuldeep (up 36 places to 51st) is the biggest eye-catcher on the list for bowlers from the perspective of the Asian side.