Shaheen Shah Afridi loses top spot in ICC ODI bowling to Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan

DUBAI: In a major setback, Pakistan’s ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi lost the top spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) men’s ODI bowling rankings after being dethroned by Afghanistan’s leg-spinner Rashid Khan.

The latest rankings, released on Wednesday, show Afridi on the second spot while South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj held the third place.

However, who climbed to number one following a stellar performance with eight wickets at an average of 12.62 during Pakistan’s historic ODI series victory over Australia, was rested during the ongoing series against Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, his bowling partner, Haris Rauf, who was instrumental in the 2-1 win against Australia and was named Player of the Series, has also slipped two positions to 15th.

Emerging opener Saim Ayub, who scored a swashbuckling century in Pakistan’s 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the second ODI of the ongoing three-match series on Tuesday, jumped 80 places to 90th in the men’s ODI batting rankings, continued to be led by star batter Babar Azam.

On the other hand, India’s right-arm speedster Jasprit Bumrah reclaimed the top position in the Test bowling rankings after leading his side to a historic 295-run victory over Australia in the opening Test of the five-match series in Perth on Monday.

The right-arm pacer’s match figures of 8/72 helped him overtake Australia’s Josh Hazlewood and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada to secure the top spot with career-best 883 rating points — the highest by an Indian pacer in the format.

Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (904) and Ravindra Jadeja (899) are the only other bowlers from the country to register higher rating points than Bumrah’s 833.

This is the third time this year that Jasprit Bumrah has secured the top spot in Test rankings, the previous such instances were his one-month each stints during February and October.

On the batting front, India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, who scored magnificent centuries in their team’s come-from-behind victory also made gains.

Jaiswal replaced England’s Harry Brook and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson to reach a career-best second position, only behind Joe Root, while Kohli jumped nine places to claim 13th position in the rankings.