Desk Reports :
Sri Lankan cricketer now in ‘war’ with Maharaja for throne
Sri Lanka last played an ODI against Bangladesh on July 8 this year. This is also the last ODI for Sri Lankan spinner Mahish Tikshan. Despite not playing a match in this edition for one and a half months, Tikshan has improved his ranking. Tikshan is now fighting for the throne with Keshav Maharaj.
Keshav Maharaj shocked Australia and rose to the top of the ODI bowlers’ rankings last week. He took 5 wickets for 33 runs in 10 overs in the first ODI against Australia in Cairns on August 19. A week later, Maharaj is at the top of the ICC’s updated weekly rankings today. His rating points are 671. Mahish Tikshan is jointly at the top of the ODI bowlers’ rankings with 671 rating points. There is no change in the bowlers’ rankings from 3 to 9 in the ODI. India’s Kuldeep Yadav, Namibia’s Bernard Scholz and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who are at 3rd, 4th and 5th, have rating points of 650, 644 and 640. Gurkesh Moti has moved up one place in the ODI bowlers’ rankings. He has moved up one place. His rating points are 605. Adam Zampa has swapped places with Moti. Zampa has moved down one place and is now at number 11 in the ODI bowlers’ rankings. Meanwhile, Australia have already lost the series after losing the first two matches against South Africa. However, Australia avoided a whitewash with a big 276-run win in the third ODI at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mack on August 24. Batting first, Australia scored 431 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. Travis Head (142), captain Mitchell Marsh (100) and Cameron Green (118*) scored centuries. The rankings of these three centurions have improved. Head has moved up one place to number 11 in the ODI batsmen’s rankings. His rating points are now 669.
Green has made the biggest leap among the three centurions. He has moved up 40 places to number 78 in the ODI batsmen’s rankings. Green’s rating points are 451. He remained unbeaten on 118 runs off 55 balls in the third ODI against South Africa, falling to number 3. He hit 6 fours and 8 sixes in his innings. This is the first century of his ODI career. Meanwhile, Marsh has moved up four places to number 44 in the ODI batsmen’s rankings. His teammate Josh Inglis has also made a big improvement. Inglis has moved up 23 places to number 64 in the ODI batsmen’s rankings.
Shubman Gill has retained the top spot in the ODI batsmen’s rankings with 784 rating points. No cricketer has actually changed their position in the top 10. Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam, who are in second and third place, have rating points of 756 and 739. Gill and Rohit last played an ODI in March this year in the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand. Babar, on the other hand, last played an ODI against the West Indies in Trinidad on August 12. Afghanistan’s Ibrahim Zadran is 10th in the ODI batsmen’s rankings with 676 rating points.
