Captain Shaheen's Bowling Surge, Fakhar Zaman's Batting Lift—But Who Noticed Rizwan, Saim, and Shadab Slipping?

This morning, in a small Kolkata studio, as I read the new ICC ODI rankings update, the tea in my cup had gone cold and only three names were written in the corner of my notebook—Shaheen, Fakhar, Haris. All three had moved up, and those were the names shining in every headline. But in the lower half of the same table were three more names—Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Shadab—sliding down, and no one thought it worth looking at them. In all my years of watching and writing about this game, I have learned one thing: the real story of a rankings update is never in the names at the top; it is hidden in the names at the bottom, and to read it you have to step away from the scoreboard and look at the margin.

This update follows the ongoing ODI tri-series between Pakistan, England, and Sri Lanka, and its brightest number belongs to Fakhar Zaman—127 off 99 balls, including 11 fours and six sixes. A strike rate of roughly 128.3, extraordinarily aggressive for an opener. On the back of that innings he climbed nine places to 37th with 548 points. Shaheen Afridi, who is also captain now, has entered the top five among bowlers, and Haris Rauf's ranking also rose. Babar Azam holds ninth with 661 points, and Salman Ali Agha holds 13th with 622. But in the same table, Mohammad Rizwan slipped two places to 44th, Saim Ayub fell four places to joint 68th, and Shadab Khan dropped another place to 93rd. Rizwan is also described as "out of all-format squads," which signals not just form but selection direction.

Look a little deeper at that innings, because it is the only solid evidence in this entire update. Of his 127 runs, 80 came from fours and sixes alone—roughly 63 percent of the total. That number tells you Fakhar did not just score runs—he built so much pressure on the bowlers that the structure of the innings changed. An opener who accelerates through the powerplay and holds rhythm through the middle overs forces the opposing captain to rethink his entire plan. In traditional ODI cricket, an opener's strike rate of 85 to 95 is acceptable; Fakhar's 128.3 is far above that scale, meaning conditions that day favoured batting and Fakhar made full use of them. But a question hangs here—and it is written in the margin of my notebook—against whom was this innings played, at which ground, and what was the pitch like? The report does not say. England's bowling or Sri Lanka's, the quality differs, and so does the venue. Until you know who the innings was against and where, you cannot treat the shine of 127 as proof of permanent form. That is why even the nine-place jump only matters up to a point—if Fakhar had already been sitting mid-table with a strong twelve-month record, one big innings would have taken him higher. Reaching 37th shows his base is still mid-tier, and this surge is a "hot hand," not structural progress.

Coming to the bowling, Shaheen Afridi's top-five entry is the biggest news, but there is a gap here too. The report does not give his exact position or points, and for Haris Rauf it uses only the word "rise." This means we know the direction but not the magnitude. Is Shaheen genuinely closing in on the No. 1 bowler spot, or is this a marginal shuffle within the list? The answer is not in this update. And this is where I pause—because Shaheen is now captain too. Leading the side and leading the pace attack together is a double burden for any player. This report does not mention that burden. How his workload will be managed across three formats, whether he will bowl full spells in ODIs or balance T20 and league commitments—these are questions the rankings table does not answer but which will decide the fate of Pakistan's bowling in the coming months.

The batting picture is more tangled. Babar Azam is ninth with 661 points, a high position in itself, but Shubman Gill leads with 841. That gap of roughly 180 points clearly shows Babar is no longer at the level he was at his peak. The report frames it neutrally as "retained ninth," but the truth is that the retention itself is a decline marker. Salman Ali Agha is 13th and his points are quite close to Babar's—interesting, because it shows the centre of gravity within the team's batting is slowly shifting. But the real concern is below them. Rizwan at 44th, Saim Ayub at 68th, and Shadab at 93rd are sliding. Three batters falling in the same update is not individual coincidence but a sign of a systemic problem—a lack of depth in the middle and lower order, or constant selection churn. Rizwan's case is the sharpest: a rankings slide coupled with being out of all-format squads. This is not just the result of form; it shows the selectors have moved him down the priority list. A player who was once a pillar is now outside the setup—that in itself raises a big question about the direction of Pakistan's ODI batting.

Here I remember something I was told last year during a Ranji match by an elderly scorebook writer—"the one who looks up at the table never sees the fear below." That is the biggest gap in this whole update. The headline tells the story of three rising names, but the story of three sliding names matters far more. When one team has two batters (Babar and Salman) in the top 15 and three (Rizwan, Saim, Shadab) sliding below 40, that two-tier structure shows the batting burden rests on two people. If tomorrow the form of Babar or Salman dips, the team has no depth to cover for it. That is the risk least reported in this update but which matters most. Shaheen and Rauf's rise in pace is good news, but if there is no depth in batting, what score will the bowlers defend? That is the contradiction slowly emerging within the Pakistan ODI team—bowling getting stronger, batting support getting weaker.

Finally, one thing to remember when reading rankings: ICC rankings are a rolling weighted average, not just a snapshot of current form. Recent performances carry more weight, but older ones do not vanish entirely, and opposition strength also matters. So a good performance against England and Sri Lanka will be weighed differently, and a big score against lower-ranked teams will not carry as much weight. This update also does not specify which score came against whom, so before treating Fakhar's 127 as a permanent rise, waiting for the next three to five innings would be wise. The three names written with downward arrows in my notebook will tell the real direction of the Pakistan ODI team in the coming months—because the true story of cricket is never in the speed of fast bowlers, but in the empty chair where some batter is looking for a place to sit.