Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has said India’s sensational batter Shubman Gill surely deserves to be at the top of ICC ODI batting rankings.
On Wednesday, Gill dethroned Pakistan’s Babar Azam from the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings. In the latest rankings list, Gill has 796 rating points while Babar has 773. India skipper Rohit Sharma is ranked third with 761 points. South Africa’s Henrich Klaasen and New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell at fourth and fifth respectively.
Gill’s dominance in ODIs has been highly praised and he lived up to the expectations in India’s Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh where he scored a a match-winning century (101*). It was also his fourth successive 50+ score, making him one of the most persistent batters.
Shubman Gill celebrates after scoring century against Bangladesh. (ICC Media Zone)
Ponting said Gill’s rise to the No.1 ranking is commendable and deserving. “He thoroughly deserves to be the number one ranked batsman in the world at the moment. It’s a great sign for India that he’s got his account underway early in the first game of a Champions Trophy,” Ponting shared on ICC Review podcast.
Ponting also acknowledged Gill’s presence in limited-overs cricket, even though he struggled to showcase his white-ball success in Test cricket. “He’s been a very, very good international player for several years. His white-ball cricket over the last three or four years has been outstanding,” he said.
The World Cup-winning skipper also pointed out why Gill’s style of game is ODI cricket. “One-day cricket allows him to be aggressive early in the powerplay with the field up. He plays good, natural shots and scores boundaries at will,” he added.
Gill has accumulated a massive 2,688 runs in 51 ODIs with an average of 62.51, which includes eight centuries.
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The next clash where India is set to play against Pakistan on 23 February in the Dubai International Stadium is a game to surely watch out for.
