India batter closes gap on Babar following rapid rankings jump

The ICC Review podcast: Ravi Shastri on India's T20 World Cup win, and the way forward from here

India captain Rohit Sharma has been rewarded for some good recent performances with the bat by making inroads on Pakistan's Babar Azam at the top of the ICC Men's ODI Batter Rankings.

Rohit is the leading run-scorer through the opening two contests of India's three-match series against Sri Lanka, with the veteran opener having amassed two half centuries and 122 runs already at an imposing strike rate of 134.06.

The 37-year-old helped himself to a quickfire 64 during the second game of that series in Colombo and gained one place in the rankings for ODI batters to third place in the latest update on Wednesday.

Rohit improves his overall rating to 763 rating points, with the right-hander now just 61 rating points behind Babar in the race to hold the No.1 ranking in the world for ODI batters.

Men's ODI Batter Rankings

Shubman Gill remains in second place despite just 51 runs from the opening two matches against Sri Lanka, while Axar Patel - who has 77 runs from two hits against the island nation - improves 35 places to rise to 178th overall on the updated rankings for ODI batters.

The biggest improvers from a Sri Lanka perspective come from a pair of right-handers, with Janith Liyanage gaining 10 spots on the list for ODI batters to move to equal 76th and opener Avishka Fernando improving nine places to rise to 88th in the same category.

There was also some movement on the updated rankings for ODI bowlers, with India spinner Kuldeep Yadav gaining five places inside the top 10 on the back of his three wickets from two appearances against Sri Lanka.

Kuldeep claimed good figures of 2/33 from the second match of the series and that helped the 29-year-old improve to equal fourth place behind South Africa's Keshav Maharaj on the list for ODI bowlers.

Men's ODI Bowler Rankings

Young Sri Lanka spinner Dunith Wellalage is rewarded for his efforts with a five-spot gain to rise to 76th, while Axar improves 37 places to jump to 96th following his tidy spell of 1/36 in the second match of the series.

There are also big jumps on the bowler rankings for India all-rounder Washington Sundar and Sri Lanka spinner Jeffrey Vandersay following their impressive efforts in the series.

Sundar gains 45 places to rise to equal 97th following his three-wicket haul in the second match of the series, while Vandersay rockets up 64 positions to be on the cusp of the top 100 at 105th after his stunning six-wicket effort in the same contest.