Afghanistan's Azmatullah Omarzai tops ICC ODI all-rounder rankings

Afghanistan star Azmatullah Omarzai has completed his climb to the top of the ICC’s all-rounder rankings. The all-rounder, who will turn just 25 later this month, is now in unchartered waters, moving to the top of an ICC Rankings list.

Following a blistering ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign, which included a maiden five-wicket haul against England and a 50 against Australia, Omarzai has become the world’s top-ranked all-rounder. He also dethroned teammate Mohammad Nabi in the process, who drops to second on the list.

The right-armer rose two spots and claimed a career-high rating points total of 296. Omarzai began playing cricket at the age of 14 and made his international debut for the Afghanistan national team in January 2021. He was a member of Afghanistan's squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup and in 2024; he was honored as the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards.

India’s Axar Patel was the other big all-rounder rise, moving up 17 spots to 13th and registering a career-high 194 ratings points. Omarzai was also one of the key climbers in the latest ODI batter rankings, off the back of his 126 total runs in the Champions Trophy. He moved up 12 spots to 24th (598 rating points).

Afghanistan’s Champions Trophy campaign allowed a number of their stars to blossom, as Ibrahim Zadran also made a bold climb up the batting rankings. The 23-year-old smashed 177 runs against England in Lahore, moving up 13 spots into 10th (676 rating points).

Australia’s Steve Smith also collected a good dose of rating points, climbing six spots to 16th after his batting contributions at the Champions Trophy. Another high profile veteran, Kiwi Kane Williamson, also made a move, climbing eight spots to 29th.

India opener Shubman Gill remains in No.1 ranking for ODI batters, with teammate Virat Kohli moving up to fourth following his Player of the Match heroics against Australia in the Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai.

New Zealander Matt Henry has been rewarded for his superb tournament, rising three spots and onto the podium of the bowling rankings. Henry is now in third (649 rating points), behind Sri Lankan spinner Maheesh Theekshana (first) and South Africa tweaker Keshav Maharaj (second).

The resurgence of Indian seamer Mohammed Shami at the Champions Trophy sees him move up three spots to 11th (609 ratings points), while South Africa’s Marco Jansen (up nine spots to 18th) and England’s Jofra Archer (up 13 spots to equal-19th).

The ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings is an international One Day International (ODI) cricket rankings system of the International Cricket Council. After every ODI match, the two teams involved receive points based on a mathematical formula. Each team's points total is divided by their total number of matches played to give a rating, and all the teams are ranked in a table in order of rating.

Until 2013, the team ranked number one at the annual 1 April cut-off date received the ICC ODI Championship Shield and prize money. The rankings were used to award direct qualification for the Cricket World Cup in 2019 and 2027.

As of 7 August 2024, India leads the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings, with a rating of 118 from 45 weighted matches, while the lowest rated team, UAE, has a rating of 12 from 30 weighted matches.