Pakistan captain Babar Azam has increased his lead as the top ranked ODI batter in the world due to a pair of New Zealand players making giant strides on the latest MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Player Rankings.
Babar Azam scored an outstanding 74 during Pakistan’s 16-run win over the Netherlands, putting him further ahead in the race for first place in the OBDI Rankings.
The International Cricket Council revealed their latest set of Men’s rankings on Wednesday and Babar Azam is likely to remain at the top if the current trend holds.
Since taking over the lead last year, and maintaining it to this day, Abar has a 91 point lead in the ODI ranking order.
Pakistan’s captain has a total of 891 points, with teammate Imam-ul-Haq coming in second with 800 points. The first opener for the Netherlands only managed to accumulate 2 points against Indonesia.
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Babar also remains on top of the latest T20 batting rankings, although New Zealand opener Devon Conway closes in on the Pakistan star after an impressive series against the West Indies.
Dan Conway was the second leading run scorer of the series with 106 runs, which helped him rise one spot to seventh on the rankings for batting in T20I games.
Players in New Zealand were boosted in the updated rankings after star all-rounder Mitchell Santner improved nine spots to eighth overall on the T20I rankings for bowlers.
Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood remains on top of that list; despite the recent emergence of players inside the top 10 trying to overtake him.
