There’s a new King in town and his name is Mohammed Siraj. The 28-year-old Indian pacer became the No. 1 ODI bowler in the world as he pipped Josh Hazlewood to move to the numero uno spot in the latest ICC rankings. It boards well for the Indian team in what is a World Cup year and it also justified Siraj’s rapid rise in international cricket. After having a breakthrough at the highest level in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 in Test matches, Siraj has taken the One-day international cricket by storm after his return to the 50-over setup in February 2022, after a three-year wait.
Siraj has taken 38 wickets in 20 matches in the format since then and hasn’t looked back. Siraj became skipper Rohit Sharma’s go-to bowler in the powerplay as well as at the death, perfectly filling the void left by Jasprit Bumrah’s absence. Now with the World Cup approaching, Siraj is likely to lead the attack for India in the World Cup alongside Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.
In 2022, Siraj’s economy was 4.61 in 15 matches as he rose up the ranks among Indian bowlers. In five matches in 2023 so far, Siraj has already taken 14 wickets at an outrageous economy of 3.83 in home conditions in modern-day ODI cricket, it’s more valuable than gold dust. Siraj became the sixth Indian bowler to top the ICC rankings in ODIs after the likes of Kapil Dev, Maninder Singh, Anil Kumble, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah. Siraj has 729 rating points under his name, while Hazlewood has 727 and Trent Boult is at No. 3 with 708.
Not just Siraj, the other Indian bowlers too moved up in the rankings. Siraj’s new-ball partner Shami was up by 11 places and is now in the 32nd place. Kuldeep Yadav, who finished as the leading wicket-taker in the series against New Zealand moved up by two places and is now at 19th position while Shardul Thakur, who also took six wickets in three matches moved from 40th to 35th place.
The Men in Blue will next play an ODI series in July-August against the West Indies.
