Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali recently questioned the legitimacy of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) rankings after Pakistan's star batter Babar Azam retained his top spot in ODI batter rankings.
Further, India's rising star Shubman Gill, who has been struggling for runs recently. remained in the top 3 of this ranking, which Basit felt was not right.
Despite playing his last 50-over game in November 2023, there has not been a major shift in the ICC ODI batter rankings.
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What did Basit Ali say about ICC ODI batting rankings of Babar Azam and Shubman Gill?
The former Pakistan cricketer and now commentator, Basit Ali was speaking on his YouTube channel about his issues with the ICC rankings, which he suggested that it gives players a false contentment.
"When I saw the ICC ranking [for ODI batters], Babar Azam was at the top, number two was Rohit Sharma, number three was Shubman Gill, and then there was Virat Kohli at number four. I did not find it necessary to read the remaining names because I couldn't see Travis Head and Rachin Ravindra," Basit said.
He felt that such rankings make players too relaxed and unfocused, leading to inconsistent performances. Additionally, he was not happy with the rankings where Babar and Gill feature in the top five, even though they have not played a lot of matches recently.
"I think the ICC wants that Babar doesn't perform. He would be happy with being the number one-ranked batter in ODIs. Who gives these rankings? On what basis are Babar Azam and Shubman Gill there?" he questioned.
He suggested that top performers in the ODI World Cup 2023 like Australia's Travis Head, South Africa's Quinton de Kock and New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra should have featured in the top five, after their strong performances, over the likes of Gill and Babar.
"Babar's last ODI was at the last year's World Cup. We saw the likes of Rachin Ravindra, Quinton de Kock, Travis Head and Virat Kohli at the World Cup. They scored three-four hundreds in the tournament. For Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman scored a century each. What kind of ranking do they give?" he noted.
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