Imam-ul-Haq surpasses Virat Kohli in ICC's batting ranking

Pakistan opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq overtook former Indian skipper Virat Kohli in the ICC Men’s ODI batting rankings, which means that he currently ranks second, while Babar Azam remains number one. This is the first time the top two positions on the rankings are claimed by Pakistani batsmen, stated the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old left-hander jumped a massive 20 points in terms of ratings and now has a career-best of 815 rating points.

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But he remains well behind Babar's mark of 892 rating points, with the Pakistan skipper maintaining his enormous lead at the head of the ODI rankings after his 17th ODI century in the opening match against West Indies in Multan.

Babar Azam also reached a unique feat of scoring three consecutive centuries twice, which is a record in itself in ICC Men’s ODIs.

Haq grabbed the player of the series award in the recently-concluded ODI series courtesy scores of 65, 72 and 62. Haq has so far averaged 99.40 in 2022, with his highest score being 106.

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He is also the second fastest batter to reach 1,000 runs in ODI cricket, with Fakhar Zaman leading the list. Haq was involved with Fakhar Zaman in the second-highest opening stand of 304 runs against Zimbabwe in ODI cricket.

Haq averages 54.78 in the 50 overs format with a strike rate of 83.36, and is also one of the few batter who scored a ton on his ODI debut in 2017 against Sri Lanka.