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India’s right-arm pacer Mohammed Siraj has become the new No.1 bowler in the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings for bowlers, going past New Zealand’s left-arm seamer Trent Boult and Australia’s fast bowler Josh Hazlewood.
It’s a remarkable rise for Siraj, who only returned to India’s ODI setup in February 2022 following a three-year break without playing a 50-over match at the international level. He was also named in the Men’s ODI Team of the Year for 2022 on Tuesday.
Since his comeback in the ODIs, 28-year-old Siraj has picked 37 wickets from 20 matches to become one of India’s most consistent fast bowlers in the absence of India’s bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. For his impressive performance since his comeback, he has started getting praise from all over the world for providing crucial wickets to his team with the new ball.
Not only Siraj has been impressive with his form over the last 12 months, but his brilliant efforts in the ODI series at home recently against Sri Lanka and New Zealand have shown how much he has improved his bowling in recent times.
In the middle of last year, India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey challenged Siraj to work on certain aspects of his game and the extra training he has put in has certainly helped him to deliver better performances.
Siraj claimed a four-wicket haul by conceding 46 runs in the opening match of the recently-completed ODI home series against New Zealand at his home ground in Hyderabad and took nine wickets against Sri Lanka to be the leading wicket-taker for the three-game series.
It means Siraj jumps to the top of the ODI bowler rankings with 729 rating points, going past Hazelwood narrowly with just two rating points who sits at the second spot with 727 points.
Meet the ICC Men’s ODI No. 1⃣ Bowler! 🔝
Congratulations, @mdsirajofficial 👏 👏#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/tkeKAXtIIf
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 25, 2023
Other Indian bowlers to be previously number one in the Men’s ODI rankings are Kapil Dev, Maninder Singh, Anil Kumble, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah.
India captain Rohit Sharma was full of praise for Siraj when asked about the emerging quick following the series whitewash over New Zealand.
“He has done really well, he understands what the team is expecting from him,” Rohit said.
“To come and take the new ball, swing the ball, get early wickets. In the middle overs too, he’s got so much skill.
“The more he plays, the better he gets.”
Fellow India fast bowler Mohammed Shami jumps 11 places to 32nd overall on the updated list for ODI bowlers. Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and seam bowler Shardul Thakur have received the gains of finishing with six wickets each in the series. While Kuldeep has moved from 21st to 19th, Thakur has moved five places and is in the 35th position.
Fast-bowling All-rounder and T20 captain Hardik Pandya has progressed in all three lists. He is up six places to 75th among batters, has gained 26 slots to reach 80th position among bowlers and has moved from 32nd to 17th in the list of all-rounders.
However, the eye-catcher has been in-form young opener Shubman Gill who took the Player of the Series award against New Zealand as the right-hander jumps a whopping 20 places to sixth overall following a brilliant double hundred and a century against them at home, being in the top ten rankings for the first time.
Gill went past talismanic India batter Virat Kohli, who is in seventh place, while captain Rohit Sharma jumps two places to equal eighth after his quickfire hundred against New Zealand in Indore, which was his first century after three years. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam still enjoys a healthy lead at the top of the ODI batting rankings, but there are now three Indian players inside the top 10 list.
There wasn’t too much joy for New Zealand after they lost the series 3-0 to India and relinquished the number ODI team ranking to them. The only two players who benefitted from the series were left-handed opener Devon Conway and all-rounder Michael Bracewell.
Conway improved 13 spots to 37th overall on the list for batters after his superb century in the final game of the series, while Bracewell who was the leading run-scorer for New Zealand with 188 runs, has moved 71 places to 85th position in the rankings for batters.
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