Afghanistan’s clean sweep of Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi has shaken up the latest ICC tables, most notably putting Rashid Khan back on top of the one-day bowling charts.
The leg-spinner’s 11 wickets came at an eye-catching average of 6.09 and a tight economy of 2.73, enough to haul him from sixth to first and leave him on 710 rating points – 30 clear of South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj. It is Rashid’s first stint at No. 1 since November 2024.
There was movement further up the order too. Opener Ibrahim Zadran, Player of the Series thanks to 213 runs at 71, has jumped eight spots to No. 2 among ODI batters. Only India’s Shubman Gill now sits above him, with Rohit Sharma nudged into third.
All-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai rounded off a productive few days for Afghanistan by pinching back top spot in the ODI all-rounder rankings from Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza. Omarzai bagged seven wickets and chipped in with 60 runs across the three games; he had briefly led the table earlier this year and now returns to the summit.
Over in the Test lists, India’s Kuldeep Yadav has reached a personal best of 14th among bowlers after collecting 12 wickets at 19.50 in the two-match series against West Indies. Team-mate Yashasvi Jaiswal moved from seventh to fifth in the batting standings on the back of his 175 in Delhi.
So, what does it all mean? For Afghanistan, having three players in the top bracket of ICC rankings is no small milestone. It backs up on-field progress with a bit of statistical clout and, perhaps more importantly, offers welcome validation ahead of a busy limited-overs calendar. For India, Kuldeep’s rise reinforces the depth of their spin attack, while Jaiswal’s steady climb hints at long-term stability at the top of the Test order.
There will, of course, be fluctuations as the northern-hemisphere winter schedule rolls on. South Africa tour New Zealand, England head for the subcontinent, and both sets of results can tug those numbers in different directions. For the moment, though, Rashid and his Afghan colleagues have clear evidence that the work being done behind the scenes – whether in Kabul, Sharjah or the ICC’s Dubai office – is paying off.
Plenty can change by the next update, but a week that started with a routine bilateral series has finished with Afghanistan’s finest sitting alongside (and in a couple of cases, ahead of) the traditional heavyweights. That feels significant, even if the rankings column has a habit of shuffling every time a new ball is taken.
