Pakistan's leading fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has regained the number one position in the ICC Men's ODI Bowler Rankings. He was also at the top of these rankings a year ago when the Cricket World Cup was taking place in India.
Afridi's superb series performance for the nine wickets Pakistan grabbed with eight wickets in three games against Australia in an average of 12.62 has helped him float to the pinnacle again.
Meanwhile, in a reshuffle of the ranking, South African spinner Keshav Maharaj slipped to third, as Afghanistan's Rashid Khan did not budge from his second position.
Afridi's dominance on-field was complemented by Pakistan captain Babar Azam's top-ranked batting position in ODI - making Pakistan the only team with both the no 1-ranked ODI bowler and batsman.
Babar, who scored 80 runs against Australia without being dismissed even once, retained the No.1 ranking from among the batters in ODI cricket. Afridi was not the only one who sailed up in the ranks. But Haris Rauf is one Pakistani bowler who has gone up the ranks after his player of the series performance against Australia, taking 10 wickets.
Naseem Shah, meanwhile improved a career best 14 places to 55th position as the overall rankings went. The emerging ODI captain of Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan, also finds himself at 23 in the batting rankings after his success against Australia.
Bangladesh's captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is also up 11 places in the last fortnight, climbing into a share of 23rd place among the batters with batsmen in ODI cricket, while the Afghan Azmatullah Omarzai has gone up 8 places to 31.
The front-line bowling on ODI was improved by both Gudakesh Motie of West Indies and Mehidy Hasan Miraz of Bangladesh; the latter hopped nine places to 23rd.
In the T20I rankings, England's Phil Salt scored second and Jos Buttler placed sixth among batters after fantastic performances against the West Indies. South Africa's Reeza Hendricks and Tristan Stubbs proved in a position to make a difference in the T20I batting rankings, as Stubbs jumped up 12 places into the 26th ranking.
T20I bowling rankings saw changes as well. Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga moved into the second position with England's Adil Rashid at the top of the list, while West Indies' Akeal Hosein and India's Ravi Bishnoi broke into third and seventh place respectively.
Notable Gains
New Zealand's Mitchell Santner and Lockie Ferguson, England's Jofra Archer, and Sri Lanka's Matheesha Pathirana – all of them witnessed remarkable gains, but particularly the latter – jumping up 22 positions to 31.
On the all-rounder chart, England's Liam Livingstone sustained his dominance at the top of the T20I rankings, while Hasaranga climbed to fifth and West Indies' Romario Shepherd reached eighth place.
