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Pakistan’s white-ball skipper, Babar Azam has made it to the top of the ICC ODI rankings for the best batter in the world for the third consecutive time. Although Pakistan got knocked out of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in the group stages itself, Babar scored over 300 runs in 9 matches for his side. 

Babar Azam ODI stats 2023
MatchesInningsRunsAverageHSSR
2524106546.3015184.35

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Babar is the only Pakistani cricketer in the 21st century to reach the pinnacle of Men’s ODI batting, let alone achieving the feat three consecutive times. 

Apart from Babar, other prominent batters to have dominated the list in the 21st century are India's talisman Virat Kohli and Mr. 360 himself, South African batter AB de Villers. Previous to de Villers, Hashim Amla was the world’s best ODI batsman for quite some time. 

The two South Africans dominated the top ODI batter list for seven years straight between 2010 and 2017, quite an extraordinary feat indeed. 

In today’s story with The Sporting News, we take a look at the list of players at the top of the Men’s ODI rankings in each year of the 21st century. 

READ MORE: Salman Butt defends Babar Azam on fitness issue

Best ODI batsman in every calendar year in the 21st century

Top ODI batters at the end of each calendar year in the 21st century
PlayerTeamYear
Michael BevanAustralia2000
Michael BevanAustralia 2001
Michael BevanAustralia 2002
Sachin TendulkarIndia2003
Adam GilchristAustralia2004
Ricky PontingAustralia2005
Michael HusseyAustralia2006
Ricky PontingAustralia2007
MS DhoniIndia2008
MS DhoniIndia2009
Hashim AmlaSouth Africa2010
Hashim AmlaSouth Africa2011
Hashim AmlaSouth Africa2012
AB de VilliersSouth Africa2013
AB de VilliersSouth Africa2014
AB de VilliersSouth Africa2015
AB de VilliersSouth Africa2016
Virat KohliIndia2017
Virat KohliIndia2018
Virat KohliIndia2019
Virat KohliIndia2020
Babar AzamPakistan2021
Babar AzamPakistan2022
Babar AzamPakistan2023

READ MORE: Players from Australia's Test squad who have won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

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Author(s)
Rahul Chalke Photo

Rahul is a content producer for The Sporting News’ India edition.