Pakistan’s stellar streak in world cricket is still very much evident in the ICC Men's Rankings, with Salman Agha, Haris Rauf, and Abrar Ahmed being some of the top movers after their respective performances against Sri Lanka and South Africa.
After their series win at home against South Africa, Pakistan started their ODI series against Sri Lanka with a tight victory in Rawalpindi. The win was definitely Salman Agha’s fiery 87-ball 105 and Hussain Talat’s handy 63-ball 62, both of whom, as per the ICC, boosted their positions considerably in the latest ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings.
Salman Agha rises to career-best rank; Haris Rauf and Abrar Ahmed climb up bowling charts
Salman went up 14 places to land at the 16th position with a 639 rating points, which is actually his career-best tally. India's KL Rahul is currently in the 17th spot, immediately after him.
Moreover, a noteworthy advancement for Pakistan's Saim Ayub was the 18 places he rose to become a joint 35th, thereby, he was the middle of the pack in back-to-back half-centuries during the earlier South Africa series, while he was quite quiet against Sri Lanka.
In the bowling department, Haris Rauf—only his second international match since the Asia Cup Final—after his four-wicket haul in Rawalpindi, went up three places to 28th. Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed also rocketed 17 positions, taking no part in the Sri Lanka game, owing to his match-winning 4/27 in the South Africa series decider.
Quinton de Kock of South Africa has been a brilliant comeback and he made fifty-plus runs in all the three Pakistan ODIs scoring an overall total of 219 and climbed four places to 15th in the batting rankings.
Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka also grabbed the limelight with a strong all-round performance in Rawalpindi, where he defeated the opposition by taking 3 wickets for 54 runs and then hitting a fiery 59. So, Hasaranga moved up 14 positions to 116th in the batting rankings, one place higher to ninth in the bowling rankings, and still remains in the top 10 of all-rounders in ODI cricket.
In the ICC Men’s T20I Rankings, New Zealand’s Jacob Duffy made six wickets in four matches during his team’s series against the West Indies. Following this, he was promoted from the 9th position to the 3rd in the T20I Bowling Rankings. Duffy is only behind Varun Chakaravarthy of India and Rashid Khan of Afghanistan.
