Babar Azam eyes Virat Kohli's No1 ODI ranking as Pakistan take on South Africa

Pakistan captain is 20 rankings points behind star India batsman

Pakistan's captain Babar Azam during a practice session at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore ahead of the tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe. AFP

Pakistan captain Babar Azam will have a couple of targets in mind when his team take on South Africa in the three-match ODI series which starts in Centurion on Friday.

The Proteas will be severely depleted from the third ODI onwards, owing to the Indian Premier League commitments of their star players. That should make Pakistan the favourites, especially in the subsequent four-match T20 series.

But before that Babar will be eyeing a personal milestone. The 26-year-old is just 20 ranking points behind top-ranked ODI batsman Virat Kohli. The India captain scored two fifties in the three-match ODI series against England to be placed at 857 ranking points in ICC's list for 50-over batsmen.

Babar last played one-day cricket in November and had been in vintage up until then. In his last 10 innings, Babar has scored three centuries and as many fifties.

He is currently on 837 points, with a superlative career ODI average of 55.9. If he maintains his run-scoring pace, Babar has every chance of overtaking Kohli as the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world.

And if he does that, Babar could hold on to that position for a sizeable period as India are not scheduled to play ODI cricket for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, South Africa return to the format for the first time in a year with a history-making new captain at the helm and their sights set on the 2023 World Cup.

The Proteas have not played an ODI since completing a 3-0 home series win against Australia in March 2020.

Following that series, South Africa went to India but the tour was aborted because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A planned series against England last December was then postponed after two members of the touring party tested positive for coronavirus – results which later were declared as false positives.

As a result, South Africa have yet to secure their first points in the World Cup Super League which decides which seven teams join hosts India as automatic qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup.

The Proteas and the Netherlands are the only teams who have yet to play a match in the 13-team league.

Seven teams already have three or more wins, so South Africa, under new captain Temba Bavuma, will be seeking to make up ground when they play Pakistan at SuperSport Park.

South Africa will be at full strength for the first two matches but will be without five leading players – Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, David Miller and Anrich Nortje – for the third match because of IPL commitments.

The one-day and T20 matches will be split between Centurion and Johannesburg, with the teams staying in a bio-secure location convenient to both venues.

April is unusually late for cricket matches to be played in South Africa.

Shorter days and autumnal weather could affect conditions at two grounds where batsmen usually thrive on hard, true pitches.

Bavuma said his only experience of playing in April was in a domestic T20 competition.

"It seemed to suit seam bowling a bit more, with the ball swinging," said Bavuma, his country's first black African skipper.

"But the wickets still become favourable for batting, even though the challenge is a bit more with the seam."