ICC Player Rankings: Siraj loses top position to Hazlewood in ODI, Williamson rises to no.2 in Test

Dubai: India pacer Mohammed Siraj lost the top spot to Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood among the bowlers in ODI cricket in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Player Rankings, released on Wednesday.

Siraj copped the brunt of the attack by Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head during the second match of his side’s ODI series against Australia and as a result, has lost his place at the top of the rankings for ODI bowlers and slipped behind Hazlewood and New Zealand’s Trent Boult to be placed at third spot with 702 rating points.

Hazlewood (713 points), whose career-best second position was attained for the first time in June 2017 and which he had kept since August 2022, has become the No. 1 in ODIs for the first time.

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc’s eight wickets in the two matches against India saw him placed in joint-third position with Siraj.

In the batters list, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam maintained a healthy lead at the top of the ODI batting rankings with 887 rating points, followed by South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen (777) in second place.

Shai Hope (West Indies) and Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh) too have advanced in the rankings after smashing fine centuries this past week.

Hope’s 128 not out in East London against South Africa has lifted him two places to 12th position while Mushfiqur has gained four slots to reach 18th position after smashing Bangladesh’s fastest ODI century, a 60-ball 100 not out in Sylhet.

In the Test batter rankings, New Zealand’s premier batter Kane Williamson has moved back towards the top spot in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings.

Williamson moved up four slots to take second position in the list led by Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne after top scoring with 215 in an innings victory over Sri Lanka in Wellington that helped seal their two-match ICC World Test Championship series 2-0.

The Kiwi batter improved a total of 51 rating points on the weekly update to have a total of 883 points and sit just 32 points behind Labuschagne.