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KARACHI: Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, on Friday, broke into the top three of the International Cricket Council (ICC) player rankings for one-day international (ODI) bowlers for the first time in his career.
Ajmal reached the third spot during the recently concluded ODI series against the West Indies.
The 33-year-old from Faisalabad, who took six wickets in the series which Pakistan won by 3-2, has climbed 16 places and now sits in third position, five points behind Zimbabwe's left-arm spinner Ray Price.
Ajmal’s rise means the top four spots are now occupied by spinners with New Zealand's Daniel Vettori leading the field and England's Graeme Swann sitting in fourth position.
With Ajmal reaching the third spot, he has now become Pakistan's highest-ranked bowler with captain Shahid Afridi dropping out of the top 10 after a disappointing series, with just two wickets in the five matches and is now ranked 14th.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Hafeez has also improved his ranking after claiming six wickets in the series at 23.50 and has moved up seven places to number 27.
Hafeez, who was the second most successful batsman in the series with 267 runs, has improved his ranking by 17 places and is now in 49th position. Misbah-u-Haq's series contribution of 184 runs has helped him move up three places to 31st spot while Umar Akmal has achieved a career-best ranking of 23rd after rising four places.
Hafeez's all-round performance in the series has also helped him become the sixth-ranked all-rounder in the world. His 267 runs and six wickets in the series have helped him climb six places in the rankings for ODI all-rounders.
In the ODI Championship table, Pakistan had started the series with a difference of 35 ratings points relative to West Indies. This gap had meant Pakistan were expected to win the series convincingly. As such, because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, Pakistan's failure to win comfortably has meant they have dropped points.
Despite losing the series 3-2, the West Indies have earned four ratings points which puts them five points clear of ninth-ranked Bangladesh, while Pakistan have dropped three ratings points to open the gap with fifth-placed England by five points.
