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Babar-Azam
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has now become the No. 1 ODI batsman, replacing Indian captain Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli is currently leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. On the other end, Babar is leading his national side in a bilateral series against South Africa. With 865 points, Babar Azam is the new No. 1 ODI batsman, followed by Indian batsmen Virat Kohli (857 points) and Rohit Sharma (825 points).
The Pakistani skipper was the second-highest getter in the recently concluded South Africa series with 228 runs. He is only behind Fakhar Zaman, who scored 302 runs. Babar's 82-ball 94 in the last game of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League against South Africa has helped the batsman gain 13 rating points to move past Virat Kohli. Ahead of the South Africa series, Babar Azam was at 837 points. He has now progressed to 858 points following his 103-run innings in the first match of the series. However, in the second match, he dropped down to 852 points as he managed to score just 32 runs. With a 94-run knock in the third encounter, Babar once again grabbed 13 points and surpassed the Indian skipper to become the No. 1 batsman when the latest rankings were declared.
Babar Azam is ranked third in ICC T20 rankings
Babar also added another achievement to his illustrious career. He has become only the fourth Pakistani batsman to claim the No.1 spot in the 50-over format. Before him, Zaheer Abbas (1983-84), Javed Miandad (1988-89), and Mohammad Yousuf (2003) have been the number one ODI batsmen for Pakistan. Earlier, Babar had also captured the top position in the ICC T20 rankings. However, currently, he is ranked third after Dawid Malan and Aaron Finch. Babar Azam presently has 797 rating points to his name in the shortest format.
Babar Azam now leads Pakistan in all three formats of the game and is one of the mainstays in their batting. The 26-year-old has 2167 runs in 31 Tests, 3808 in 80 ODIs and 1744 runs in 48 T20Is. Number two ODI batsman Virat Kohli, who made his international debut in 2008, has already surpassed the 10000-mark in ODIs and scored 12169 runs in 254 games. He has 7490 runs in 91 in the purest format of the game. Virat Kohli is the only batsman to average over 50 across formats. He also has 3159 runs in T20Is, which is the most by any batsman.