New Delhi (Nilesh Tiwari): Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting said that Shubham Gill should occupy the number one spot in Theo ICC ODI batting rankings, according to former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting. Gill overtaked Pakistan’s Babar Azam to become the new number one batsman in the ICC ODI rankings on Wednesday.
Babar is placed at 773 rating points and Gill at 796. Indian captain Rohit Sharma is at the third spot with 761 points. South African Henrich Klaasen and New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Gill was universally praised for his one-day internationals dominance, and he did not disappoint the hype in India’s Champions Trophy game against Bangladesh by scoring a match-winning hundred (101*) along the way. And to add to that, it was his fourth 50+ in four on-the-bounce games, another proof that he is one of the grittiest of the batsmen.
Pontington has welcomed Gill’s No.1 rating promotion as overdue and well-deserved. “He richly deserves the world’s number one batsman rating. Good for India he’s achieved that in the course of the initial stages of a Champions Trophy match,” Ponting had stated on an ICC Review podcast.
Ponting loved Gill’s batting in the shortest form of cricket but was unable to do so in Tests. “He’s been an extremely good international cricketer for many years now. His white-ball cricket the last three or four years has been very good,” he said.
World Cup-winning captain also made his views clear on why Gill plays ODI cricket. He is a gamble at the start of the powerplay with one-day cricket’s field. He gets boundaries that so easily and plays nice, natural shots,” he further said.
Eight centuries and a 62.51 score, with Gill being the highest scorer in the game. He has a total of 2,688 runs in 51 One-Day Internationals. The highly anticipated match would be between Pakistan and India on February 23 at Dubai International Stadium.
