The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup is upon us, with India playing host to the 13th renewal of the One Day International tournament from October 5 to November 19 — when the final will take place at Narendra Modi Stadium, the largest cricket stadium in the world with a mammoth capacity of 134,000.
The hosts are the favourites to win the tournament for the first time since they lifted the trophy in Mumbai back in 2011 if you’re looking for a bet on sports, but the likes of defending champions England, five-time winners Australia and Pakistan are not going to make life easy.
The leading sides are going to need their best players on top form over the course of the tournament if they want to be crowned champions. So, with that said, let’s look at the ODI Bowling Rankings and assess the top players.
Mohammed Siraj – India
Mohammed Siraj was the driving force behind India’s recent victory over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, with the fast bowler taking a stunning six wickets for 21 runs as they bowled their rivals out for just 50 in the final. Siraj took four wickets in a single over, becoming just the fourth bowler since 2002 to complete that feat. It’s no wonder he has returned to first in the rankings and batters won’t look forward to facing him.
Josh Hazlewood – Australia
The man Siraj has pipped to the top spot, Josh Hazlewood has moved down to second. The right-arm fast-medium bowler helped Australia retain the Ashes against England this summer, most notably taking five wickets for 126 runs in Manchester. But we are here to talk about ODIs. Hazlewood’srecent form has been solid enough, as he posted 3/41 against South Africa at Bloemfontein, and recovered from a 0/74 next time out with 2/79 at the Centurion.
Trent Boult – New Zealand
Despite reaching the last two renewals of the Cricket World Cup final, losing both to Australia and England respectively, New Zealand are being given little more than an outside chance of finally getting their hands on that sought-after trophy this year. The Black Caps are currently the fourth-ranked ODI team, however, and Trent Boult could make them a threat. New Zealand recently lost a series 3-1 to England, but the left-armer’s stats of 3/37 and 5/51 at Southampton and the Oval are respectable tallies.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman – Afghanistan
It would likely take a miracle for Afghanistan to win the Cricket World Cup, as the 10th-ranked side are 150/1 (or 151.00 in decimal odds when converted using a free bet calculator) with some operators, but they do have two of the top five bowlers in ODI cricket in the form of Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan. It’s the former we’re going to focus on as his rating is currently slightly higher than his compatriots. The 22-year-old recorded an impressive 3-33 against Pakistan in August, although Afghanistan did lose the match.
Australia have two more representatives in the top 10, with Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa coming in at sixth and eighth respectively, while Matt Henry of New Zealand is wedged in between the Aussies in seventh. India’s Kuldeep Yadav and Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi are ninth and 10th.
