Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali took International Cricket Council (ICC) under fire after Babar Azam was given the top spot in the ICC Men’s ODI Rankings. Azam did not play ODI since November 2023, but still retained his top spot followed by three India batsmen- Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. Basit Ali shared his views on the latest rankings and said that ICC doesn’t want Babar to perform and kept him on the top.
Basit Ali blasts ICC for giving Babar Azam the top spot
Ali also questioned the criteria behind deciding the rankings and highlighted the absence of marquee batters like Travis Head (Australia) and Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand).
“When I saw the ICC ranking (ODI batters), Babar Azam was at the top, number two was Rohit Sharma, number three was Shubman Gill, and then there was Virat Kohli at number four. I did not find it necessary to read the remaining names because I couldn’t see Travis Head and Rachin Ravindra. I think the ICC wants that Babar doesn’t perform. He would be happy with being the number one-ranked batter in ODIs. Who gives these rankings? On what basis are Babar Azam and Shubman Gill there,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
“Babar’s last ODI was at the last year’s World Cup. We saw the likes of Rachin Ravindra, Quniton de Kock, Travis Head and Virat Kohli at the World Cup. They scored three-four hundreds in the tournament. For Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman scored a century each. What kind of ranking do they give,” he added.
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma moved up the chart and made a significant jump to settle at the second spot.
Rohit Sharma’s sudden jump was fueled by his great performance in three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. Rohit was the top scorer with 157 runs, this included two half centuries with an average of 52.33 and a strike rate of 141.44.
Nissanka from Sri Lanka also gained a spot to move to eighth, Sri Lanka ended a 27-year losing streak against India in their ODI series, securing their first victory over them since 1997. Kusal Mendis advanced five positions to tie for 39th, while Avishka Fernando climbed 20 spots to 68th in the latest rankings for 50-over batters.
