An India vs Pakistan battle ignites in ICC ODI rankings as Babar Azam-Imam-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma compete

The India fans especially would be interested in watching Virat Kohli bat. The former Indian captain has struggled to get going of late and his poor run in IPL has further put pressure on him.

Source: Twitter

Pakistan batters Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq sit atop the world batting rankings in ODIS. Babar is at the top of the charts while Imam is second. These two Pakistani batters have been in massive batting form and have been scoring runs in abundance. What makes the ODI batting rankings even more interesting is that the Pakistanis are followed by Indian batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma respectively. With 892 points, Babar sits atop. Imam is second with 815 points. The difference between Imam and Virat is not too wide though. Virat is third with 811 points. However, Rohit has major catching up to do with 791 points. The top four is captured by the Indian sub-continent players. However, there is no other player in the top 10 of the ODI players rankings after them. 

_Imam-ul-Haq leapfrogs Virat Kohli into top two _
_Shaheen Afridi, Josh Hazlewood surge _
_Zeeshan Maqsood makes all-round gains _

Lots of movement in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's ODI Player Rankings _ https://t.co/NICjDWq6YL pic.twitter.com/zQfn9iFitD

— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2022

In the coming months, Virat and Rohit will have the opportunity to go get better of each other as India will be involved in a three-match away ODI series vs England. Fans will be eager to watch them in action in the 50-over format as India have not played any ODI for a long time. The fans especially would be interested in watching Virat Kohli bat. The former Indian captain has struggled to get going of late and his poor run in IPL has further put pressure on him. 

He had a poor IPL, scoring just 341 runs from 16 games, at a dismal average of just 22. In England, Virat has done well from the past two tours. And it is expected that he will return goods on the this tour. 

The ICC ODI rankings, at the same time, have intensified the race for the top slot bas Babar-Imam vs Virat-Rohit has become a contest that one expected. If Virat and Rohit hit the green patch, we may see the Indian pair go past the Pakistani batters soon.