Ahead of the 2023 Asian Cup, Pakistan and team captain Babar Azam showed a very good rhythm. Both the team and the captain achieved first place in the ICC ODI rankings. Pakistan defeated Afghanistan 3-0 in the three-game ODI series, after which Pakistan rose in the rankings. At the same time, Captain Babar is already the number one ODI.
Only one Indian, Shubman Gill, features in the top five ICC ODI rankings. Gil is fourth in the rankings. On the other hand, if we talk about Babar Azam, he is number one with 880 reviews. While Rasi van der Dussen of South Africa is second with a rating of 777, Imam-ul-Haq of Pakistan is third with a rating of 752, Shubman Gill is fourth with a rating of 743 and Fakhar Zaman from Pakistan with a rating of 740 in fifth place.
Three Pakistani, one Indian and one South African player are in the top 5 list of the ICC-ODI ranking. That said, Pakistan’s players dominate the ODI rankings. On the other hand, Indian superstar Virat Kohli sits 9th in the top 10 with 705 reviews. Looking beyond that, current Indian captain Rohit Sharma sits 11th in the rankings with 693 ratings.
Significantly, Pakistan became the number one team in the ODIs after beating Afghanistan 3-0 in the ODI series. This time, too, the Asia Cup will be held in ODI format. In such a situation, this is a great achievement for Pakistan in ODIs. At the same time, the Indian team is one step behind Australia in third place in the ODI rankings. Then fourth place is occupied by New Zealand and fifth place by England.