India captain Virat Kohli reclaimed the world number one position in the ODI batting rankings, according to the latest MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings released on Tuesday. Josh Hazlewood of Australia achieved the top spot in the bowlers’ rankings.
Kohli, who had entered the tournament on the third position, reclaimed the spot after leading his side to the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 semifinals. The rankings were updated after the last round of group matches in the ongoing tournament in England.
The 28-year-old captain was 22 points behind former number one ODI batsman AB de Villiers when he entered the competition two weeks back. The South African had been at the top since February 2017.
He also overtook Australia’s David Warner, who was at the second position at the start of the tournament. His knock of 81 against arch rivals Pakistan and 76 against South Africa helped him jump over two two batsmen to sit on the number one spot.
Kohli, who is now ahead of Warner by just one point, had enjoyed just four days at the top in January.
Meanwhile Shikhar Dhawan has returned to the top 10 after scoring a century and two 50s in the three matches so far. Yuvraj Singh also rose in the rankings to stand on the 88th position. Opener Dhawan’s rise however meant that Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni slipped a place each.
Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar jumped 13 places to now sit on the 23rd rank with Afghanistan’s Hamza Hotak. However, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s rankings fell to 20th and 29th respectively.
There is no change in the top five of the all-rounders’ list.
Anil Kumble’s men had a strong start in the tournament as they defeated Pakistan in their opening match by 124 runs. This was however followed by a shock defeat to Sri Lanka. They booked their semifinal spot on Sunday after beating top ranked ODI team South Africa.
Source: Indian Express