Starc on top of the world

KARACHI: Pakistan are languishing at seventh place in the One-day International rankings announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday.
Take a look at the various players’ rankings and you will know the reason why Pakistan are ranked even behind World Cup flops England.
Pakistan do not have a single active player in the elite lists of batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders.
They do have Saeed Ajmal in the top-five bowlers list at number three behind Australia’s Mitchell Starc and South Africa’s Imran Tahir. But the off-spinner has been out of action since last September because of an illegal action that was cleared by the ICC last month.
In the list of all-rounders, Mohammad Hafeez is there at fourth spot behind Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan, Bangaldesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Angelo Mathews (SL). But Hafeez too has been sitting out because of an illegal bowling action.
Pakistan’s highest-ranked batsman in ODI cricket is their former captain Misbah-ul-Haq who has retired from the 50-over format after leading his side to a quarter-final finish in the World Cup. Misbah ended his ODI career at No. 12 in the list of top batsmen.
Shahid Afridi, who has also quit ODI cricket following the World Cup, signed off from the 50-over format as the sixth-ranked allrounder.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Mitchell Starc has soared to No.1 in the bowlers’ rankings in ODIs following a stellar World Cup campaign, where he was the leading wicket-taker and player of the tournament. Australia, with their fifth World Cup title, also retained the ODI shield having finished as the No.1-ranked side at the time of the April 1 cut-off date.
Starc came in to the World Cup seventh on the list, but his 22 wickets at 10.18 and an economy of 3.50 earned him 147 rating points and pushed him to the top spot for the first time in his career. He struck at least twice in every game he played, including a majestic six-for against New Zealand in Auckland which nearly helped Australia defend 152.
Part of the reason why Australia had failed to win that game was because of the damage done by another left-arm swing bowler Trent Boult. He finished the tournament with 22 wickets as well and vaulted nine places to a career-high sixth position in the rankings.
South Africa legspinner Imran Tahir, India fast bowler Umesh Yadav, and Australia’s James Faulkner made big gains as well. Tahir leapfrogged nine places into second position following his 15 wickets from eight matches, while Yadav broke into the top 20 for the first time after ending his campaign with 18 wickets at 17.83. Faulkner, who took 10 wickets - including three in the final to claim the Man-of-the-Match award — climbed 12 positions to 23rd.
AB de Villiers reclaimed the top position among ODI batsmen, and also became only the 11th player in history, and second South African after Hashim Amla, to collect more than 900 rating points. It would be scant consolation though after their tournament ended in heartbreak at the semi-final in Auckland.
There was no change in the top five batsmen, but Steven Smith and Martin Guptill, who were both named in the ICC Team of the Tournament, made the biggest moves, jumping to the 12th and 22nd places respectively. Kumar Sangakkara, who ended his ODI career after a highly productive World Cup - 541 runs including four consecutive hundreds - is second on the list.
The only change in the top 10 positions for ODI allrounders was the entry of South Africa’s JP Duminy, who moved up four places to ninth. Tillakaratne Dilshan retained top spot, closely followed by Shakib Al Hasan.