DUBAI: India opener Shubman Gill jumped to second position, among batsmen, in the latest ICC ODI Players’ Rankings on the weight of his performances in the ongoing Asia Cup.
India are yet to taste defeat in the Asia Cup and much of their success has to do with handsome contributions from batsmen, especially the top order comprising skipper Rohit Sharma, Gill and talisman Virat Kohli.
Gill isn’t the only Indian on the move up the rankings for batsmen, with Kohli rising two places to eighth and Rohit jumping two spots to ninth in the latest standings.
For the first time in more than four and half years, three Indians feature inside the Top 10 of the latest rankings for batsmen.
Gill already has two half-centuries in the tournament, aggregating 154 runs.
His handsome returns in the ongoing tournament has taken him to a career-best second place in the rankings for batsmen. He trails Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, who sits top of the pile currently.
According to the ICC standings, Gill has closed the gap with Babar considerably, with the margin now narrowing down to just 103 rating points.
The Pakistan captaim tops the batting charts with 863 rating points while Gill currently sits second with 759 points.
One has to go back to the beginning of 2019 to trace the last time India had three players inside the Top-10 rankings for batsmen.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan featured in the Top-10 then alongside Rohit and Kohli in January =, 2019.
Pakistan, which currently occupies the joint top spot in ODI rankings with Australia, have three of their players in the Top-10 of the batting charts.
However, Imam-ul-Haq has dropped one place to fifth and fellow opener Fakhar Zaman has slipped three spots to be on 10th.
Currently in the form of his life, India spinner Kuldeep Yadav has climbed the bowling charts to be in the 7th spot, on the back of his nine wickets in the Asia Cup.
Star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has also moved up four places to sixth in the standings for all-rounders.
