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Babar Azam dethrones Virat Kohli to become world's #1 ODI batsman
Karachi: Skipper of Pakistan’s men cricket team, Babar Azam has dethroned Indian captain Virat Kohli to become the top rated One Day International (ODI) batsman.
According to International Cricket Council (ICC) men's ODI rankings, the 26-year old Pakistan captain has overtaken Virat Kohli to become the No.1 batsman in the latest.
Babar Azam is leading the chart with 865 points while Virat Kohli, who retained top slot since 2017, has 857 points. They are followed by India’s Rohit Sharma and England’s Ross taylor and Aaron Fince.
It is for the first time since 2003 that a Pakistani batsman has secure number one slot. Azam is the fourth Pakistan batsman to achieve the feat. Earlier, Mohammad Yousuf, Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas have remained on the top slot.
In order to cover five ratings points, Babar needed a score of 70 runs prior to the start of the third ODI between Pakistan and South Africa.
The captain managed to score 94 runs and his brilliant innings helped Pakistan defeat South Africa by 28 runs and the series by 2-1.
In the first ODI, he became the quickest batsman in the world to score 13 ODI centuries.
Babar’s ODI record has been remarkable with 3,808 runs and 13 centuries, the third most by a Pakistani batsman, at an average of 56.83 in 80 matches.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s opening batsman Fakhar Zaman has also entered the top 10 of ODI rankings and is ranked no 7 after his back-to-back centuries against South Africa in the last two ODIs of the series.