Pakistan Captain Babar Azam Ends Virat Kohli's Supremacy In ICC Rankings

Apr 14, 2021, 17:10 IST

India captain Virat Kohli's supremacy in the top order of the ICC rankings for batsmen came to an end by his Pakistan counterpart Babar Azam On Wednesday. He now leads the Indian captain by eight points, the ICC said in a statement.

Babar Azam 🔝🔥

The Pakistan captain has overtaken Virat Kohli to become the No.1 batsman in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC men's ODI rankings 👑 pic.twitter.com/krxoKRDsSY

— ICC (@ICC) April 14, 2021

Babar is the fourth from his country to attain the position. Babar joins the list of his compatriots Zaheer Abbas (1983-84), Javed Miandad (1988-89), and Mohammad Yousuf (2003) who were the number one ODI batsmen from his nation.

Babar, who played in the Under-19 World Cups in 2010 and 2012 has been playing ODIs since 2015. The right-hander who won the player of the match by hitting a score of 94 in 82 balls in the last game of the series against South Africa in Centurion helped him gain 13 rating points to reach 865 points. Kohli was number one for more than 1,258 days for over three years.

In Tests, Babar is currently ranked sixth and in T20Is he is ranked third but has been number one in the past.

Vice-Captain Rohit Sharma has maintained the second spot with 825 points ahead of New Zealand's Ross Taylor. No other Indian features in the latest top 10 batting chart.

A good update for 🇵🇰

Fakhar Zaman, following a brilliant series against South Africa, has surged five places to joint No.7 in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC men’s ODI rankings for batsmen 👏 pic.twitter.com/WzSNehzdY3

— ICC (@ICC) April 14, 2021