Former Pakistani cricket player Basit Ali criticized the International Cricket Council (ICC) after star batsman Babar Azam maintained his position as the top-ranked player in One Day International (ODI) cricket. Babar has not played an ODI match since November 2023, yet he remains at the top of the rankings, followed by three Indian players—Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli. Basit expressed his opinion on the recent ICC rankings, implying that the ICC does not want Babar to perform well and has therefore kept him at the top of the list.
Basit also questioned the reasoning behind the ranking system, pointing out the omission of notable batsmen like Travis Head from Australia and Rachin Ravindra from New Zealand.
“In the ICC’s list of top one-day international batters, Babar Azam was first, followed by Rohit Sharma in second place, Shubman Gill in third, and Virat Kohli in fourth. I didn’t bother to look at the rest of the list because I didn’t see Travis Head or Rachin Ravindra. It seems like the ICC doesn’t want Babar to succeed. He’d be content with being the top-ranked batter in ODIs. But who decides these rankings? What criteria put Babar Azam and Shubman Gill in their positions?” Basit questioned on his YouTube channel.
“Babar’s most recent ODI was during last year’s World Cup. We saw players like Rachin Ravindra, Quinton de Kock, Travis Head, and Virat Kohli at the World Cup, and they each scored several hundreds. For Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman each scored one century. What kind of ranking system is this?” he further commented.
During the recent one-day international series against Sri Lanka, Indian team captain Rohit Sharma made a significant improvement in his rankings, moving up to the second position. This came after he performed exceptionally well with the bat.
Despite many batsmen struggling to perform, Rohit emerged as the highest run-scorer in the series. He scored a total of 157 runs, averaging 52.33, and maintained a strike rate of 141.44. He also achieved two half-century scores.
