Mohammed Siraj drops to No.2 in the latest men's ODI bowler rankings; Shubman Gill maintains top spot among batters
The latest ICC Men's ODI bowler rankings saw another change at the top of the pile, with South Africa's Keshav Maharaj pipping Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj.
For a third week in a row, the bowler rankings boast a new No.1 from Shaheen Afridi to Siraj and finally to Maharaj. The left-arm spinner has been in excellent form throughout the World Cup, including picking up a four-wicket haul against New Zealand. He followed that up with an impressive 1/30 against India and a 2/35 against Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Siraj has also been in good form, with the crucial wicket of Quinton de Kock against South Africa. He followed it by two wickets in India's final league-stage outing against the Netherlands.
His peers, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, each jumped two spots to vault into the top five of the bowler rankings, with Adam Zampa featuring at No.3.
Bumrah and Kuldeep replaced the Trans-Tasmanian pair of Josh Hazlewood and Trent Boult at numbers 4 and 5 in the rankings.
All the top-five ranked bowlers will feature in the 2023 World Cup semi-final, starting on November 15.
Indian batters occupy three of the top five spots in the ODI batting Rankings
Much like the bowling rankings, it is the Indian players dominating the top of the batting charts. Shubman Gill, who dethroned Pakistan skipper Babar Azam to the top spot last week, maintains his position at the top of the ladder.
His peers in the top order, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, are ranked fourth and fifth on the batter rankings heading into the semi-final. The former dropped down a spot from No.3, replaced by South African wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock.
The massive climb in the rankings happened in the form of Glenn Maxwell, who produced arguably the best ODI knock of all time against Afghanistan. Despite battling cramps and spasms, the 35-year-old became the first batter to score a double century in a run-chase with his 201* off 128 deliveries to help Australia seal an improbable three-wicket win.
His sensational display saw him climb 17 spots to be ranked No.21, while teammate Mitchell Marsh rose 11 places to No.38 following his 177* against Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Indian middle-order stars Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul made giant strides thanks to their respective centuries against the Netherlands in the final league stage game. Iyer climbed five spots to join Fakhar Zaman at No.13, while KL Rahul jumped seven places to 17th from 24th.
With several of these players featuring in the knockouts of the World Cup, the tussle for places could take an interesting turn after the culmination of the tournament on November 19.