LAHORE: Pakistan rises to eighth position in ODI rankings after winning the five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka 3-2, according to fresh rankings announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday.
Moreover, Pakistan batsman Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad and captain Azhar Ali also improved their rankings in batting.
“Azhar Ali’s men have advanced to 90 points, two ahead of the West Indies, and now has seventh-placed Bangladesh firmly in its sights,” the ICC says.
As a consequence of the series defeat, Sri Lanka remains in fifth place but has dropped three rankings points, which means that sixth-placed England has an opportunity to gain ground on Angelo Mathews’ men when it faces Australia in a five-match ODI series from Sept 3-13.
It has also ensured Pakistan a place in the next ICC Champions Trophy 2017 if Pakistan keeps this place till Sept 30, the cut-off date for the qualification.
Hafeez was the highest run-getter in the series and his tally of 273 runs in five games including the score of 103 as well as innings of 70 and 54 has propelled the 34-year-old three places to 29th in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen.
There were also notable gains for his team-mates Ahmed Shehzad (up five places to 30th) and skipper Azhar (up eight places to a career high of 42nd).
Despite scoring two half centuries in the final two games of the series and in doing so passing the landmark of 10,000 runs in his 319th ODI on Sunday, which the hosts won by 165 runs, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan has dropped one place to sixth on 781 points and is now five points behind Black Caps’ Kane Williamson.
Mathews has also dropped to 21st place, however there were positive movements for Lahiru Thirimanne (up three places to 36th) and Kusal Perera (up nine places to a career high of 64th).
The top 10 players remain unchanged which means that South Africa’s A.B. de Villiers remains in first position on 889 points.
ODI rankings:
- Australia (129 points); 2. India (115), 3. New Zealand (112), 4. South Africa (109), 5. Sri Lanka (103), 6. England (98), 7. Bangladesh (96), 8. Pakistan (90), 9. West Indies (88), 10. Ireland (50), 11. Zimbabwe (43), 12. Afghanistan (41).
Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2015
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