The left-hander achieved a best-ever ranking following his century in South Africa's seven-wicket victory over Pakistan.
India's mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has dropped one place to third spot in the ICC men's T20 bowling rankings, while Hardik Pandya continues to top the all-rounders' chart issued on Wednesday.
As India chase history at home in Navi Mumbai, while Laura Wolvaardt's South Africa will look to script their own fairytale, by finally breaking their run of heartbreaks at ICC events.
England toppled Pakistan from second spot in the LG-ICC Test rankings after taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-Test series.
India regained the second spot in the ICC one-day rankings following their tri-series triumph in Sri Lanka and are in with a chance to clinch the top spot if they manage a good show in the Champions Trophy.
Mike Hesson is free to rank Pakistan left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz as high as he wants but India know where their spinners are placed in the world order.
India leapfrogged New Zealand into fourth place in the annual update of the ICC ODI championship table.
Sehwag, however, could not improve on his seventh position.
The big-hitting Suryakumar Yadav is the highest placed Indian at second spot, while young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal occupies the sixth position in the ICC T20I batting rankings issued on Wednesday.
Star India cricketer Smriti Mandhana continues to top the ODI batting charts though the charismatic batter's lead has reduced following two underwhelming performances in the ongoing ICC Women's World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Marnus Labuschagne, who was dropped from the Test side during the tour of West Indies in June-July, has since hit three centuries in one-dayers and a couple more in Sheffield Shield for Queensland.
In the batsmen's rankings, Cheteshwar Pujara is the top-ranked Indian at the fourth position while opener Shikhar Dhawan climbed 21 places to be ranked 39th.
A dominant 2-0 series win over New Zealand has elevated Sri Lanka to the third position in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 standings.
In the bowlers' list, Jhulan Goswami at fifth position is the lone Indian in top-10, while Deepti Sharma holds an identical slot in the all-rounder's category.
Fourth-ranked India will have to win the upcoming One-Day International series against New Zealand by at least a 4-1 margin to move up a position in the ICC team rankings.
India ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni can inch closer to the top spot of ICC batting rankings if he continues his good form of the Asia Cup in the five-match series against Sri Lanka starting on Monday. Dhoni, who was on top of the batting list for a week in April 2006, is 19 points adrift of table topper South African Graeme Smith in the latest ICC ODI batting list with 773 rating points.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz named new Bangladesh ODI skipper
Spinners of both sides will have a significant role to play considering that Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Shah Afridi are the only specialist pacers who will be seen in action in Sunday's match.
Virat Kohli continues to prove why he is one of the greatest ODI batters of all time, moving up to the fourth spot with 747 rating points in the latest ICC ODI rankings.
South Africa go into the five-day clash at Lord's, which starts on Wednesday, as underdogs but Conrad struck an optimistic tone at a press conference on Monday.
Though India and Pakistan have 108 points, the latter take fifth spot with a decimal points difference.
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Having played the most defining knock of her career to ensure South Africa's maiden entry into Women's ODI World Cup final, skipper Laura Wolvaardt found the feeling to be surreal.
The Indian women's cricket team will look to end a 47-year wait for its maiden ICC title when it takes the field at the ODI World Cup starting with a clash against Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana remained in third place while Laura Wolvaardt retained her top spot.
India's Abhishek Sharma has surged to the second spot in the ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings for batters after a stunning 135-run innings in the fifth and final T20I against England.
India opener Smriti Mandhana has climbed to the second spot in the latest ICC women's ODI batting rankings following a stellar series against Ireland.
'Bumrah's 2024 exploits were a masterclass in skill, precision, and relentless consistency,' ICC said in a statement.
Despite missing the Ireland series, Suryakumar Yadav remains on the top spot in the T20I rankings for batters.
Suryakumar is placed second with 821 rating points behind Australia's Travis Head, who has 844 rating points.
Virat Kohli-led India beat New Zealand by 372 runs in the Mumbai Test on the fourth day after drawing the opening match in Kanpur, to win the series 1-0.
South Africa's Dale Steyn climbed to third in the International Cricket Council Test bowling rankings following his match-winning performances against New Zealand. The 24-year-old fast bowler took 20 wickets in his team's 2-0 series win over New Zealand, moving up five spots to lie just behind team mate Makhaya Ntini in the rankings.
Firing the first salvo ahead of high profile Asia Cup clash against arch-rivals India, Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson on Thursday termed left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz as the "best spinner in world cricket".
Shubman Gill is the flavour of the season after his stupendous show in the recent Test series against England but he will face a contender in Axar Patel for vice-captaincy
Ishan Kishan jumps 10 places to 23rd, Hooda re-enters top 100
India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, are coming into the showpiece event on the back of a hard-fought ODI series loss to Australia, where opener Smriti Mandhana slammed two back-to-back centuries and the spinners, led by Deepti Sharma, giving a good account of themselves.
India's young batter Yashaswi Jaiswal was placed sixth with 714 points.
India captain Rohit Sharma has climbed to second place in the ICC men's ODI batting rankings, closing in on top-ranked Shubman Gill.
Ambati Rayudu picked Mahendra Singh Dhoni as India's best ever captain ahead of the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Kapil Dev.
South Africa's defeat in their Champions Trophy opener has propelled second-placed India to the top of the International Cricket Council's one-day rankings.
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