Virat Kohli attains rare double in ICC Rankings

Virat Kohli’s prolific run with the bat has helped him attain the rare feat of crossing the 900-point mark in both Tests and ODIs after the latest update in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings, which also saw Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan and India pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah take the joint-top position among bowlers.

Kohli has become only the second batsman after South Africa’s AB de Villiers to attain the 900-point mark concurrently in both forms of the game and one among only five to have crossed 900 points in both forms of the game as he consolidated his top position with 558 runs in the 5-1 series win over South Africa, during which he slammed three centuries.

Kohli has thus moved ahead of Brian Lara in the all-timers’ list, having also overtaken him in the all-timers’ Test list last month. Kohli is now seventh in the ODI list of all-time rankings that is led by Vivian Richards with 935 points and the India captain is now a good 22 points clear of Sachin Tendulkar, whose ODI career high of 887 points came against Zimbabwe in January 1998. Kohli’s aggregate is the best since Brian Lara reached 911 points in March 1993.

India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who aggregated 323 runs in the South Africa series, is another notable gainer in the latest rankings even as a clutch of Indian bowlers made rapid strides in the latest rankings, including the wrist-spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.

Leg-spinner Chahal has moved up eight slots to the 21st position with 16 wickets in the South Africa series while Chinaman bowler Yadav’s 17 scalps have helped him move up 15 positions to take the 47th position. Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s eight wickets have lifted him two places to take the joint-first position.

Rashid has joined Bumrah at the top with 16 wickets in the series against Zimbabwe which Afghanistan won 4-1 to become the youngest to attain top ranking. His 51 runs in two innings in the series, including a brisk 43 in the final match in Sharjah on Monday, has also helped him break into the top-five in the list of all-rounders while he has also moved up 11 slots to take 114th place among batsmen.

Other Afghanistan players to gain in the latest rankings include batsmen Rahmat Shah (up 39 places to 42nd), Javed Ahmadi (up 18 places to 83rd) and Najibullah Zadran (up 23 places to 93rd) and off-spin bowler Mohammad Nabi (up seven places to 11th).

For South Africa, Faf du Plessis’ 120-run knock in the first ODI against India, after which he was ruled out due to an injury, has seen him gain one slot to reach eight position.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan have overtaken Zimbabwe in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings. Afghanistan have gained four points to take the 10th position with 55 points while Zimbabwe have lost three points to be on 50 points.

New Zealand v England series

Meanwhile, England and New Zealand feature in a five-match ODI series starting on 25 February at Hamilton, with the home side having the chance to overtake the opposition by winning the series 3-2. A 3-2 series win will help New Zealand overtake England on decimal points while both teams can reach the second position with a 5-0 win.

Series scenarios:

⦁ New Zealand beats England 5-0: New Zealand 119 points; England 113 points

⦁ New Zealand beats England 4-1: New Zealand 117 points; England 114 points

⦁ New Zealand beats England 3-2: New Zealand 116 points (ahead on decimals); England 116

⦁ England beats New Zealand 3-2: England 117 points; New Zealand 114 points

⦁ England beats New Zealand 4-1: England 119 points; New Zealand 113 points

⦁ England beats New Zealand 5-0; England 120 points; New Zealand 111 points

Series itinerary

England v New Zealand:

25 February: 1st ODI, Hamilton
28 February: 2nd ODI, Tauranga
3 March: 3rd ODI, Wellington
7 March: 4th ODI, Dunedin
10 March: 5th ODI, Christchurch

MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 20 February, after India v South Africa and Afghanistan v Zimbabwe series):

RankTeam Points
1.India123 (+4)
2.South Africa117 (-4)
3.England 116
4.New Zealand115
5.Australia112
6.Pakistan 96
7.Bangladesh90
8.Sri Lanka84
9.Windies76
10.Afghanistan55 (+4)
11.Zimbabwe50 (-3)
12.Ireland40

MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 20 February, after India v South Africa and Afghanistan v Zimbabwe series):

BATSMEN (top 20)

Rank

(+/-)

Player

Team

Points

Avge

Highest Rating

   1

( - )

Virat Kohli

Ind

909!

58.10

909 v SA at Centurion 2018

   2

( - )

AB de Villiers

SA

844

53.50

902 v NZ at Auckland 2015

   3

( - )

David Warner

Aus

823

43.43

880 v Pak at Adelaide 2017

   4

(+1)

Babar Azam

Pak

813

51.11

846 v NZ at Wellington 2018

   5

(+1)

Joe Root

Eng

808

50.91

818 v Aus at Brisbane 2018

   6

(-2)

Rohit Sharma

Ind

799

44.55

825 v SL at Mohali 2017

   7

(-1)

Quinton de Kock

SA

783

45.41

808 v Ban at East London 2017

   8

(+1)

Faf du Plessis

SA

782

44.68

802 v Ind at Durban 2018

   9

(-1)

Kane Williamson

NZ

777

46.51

798 v SA at Centurion 2015

  10

(+4)

Shikhar Dhawan

Ind

769

45.90

794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

  11

( - )

Martin Guptill

NZ

764

43.75

789 v SA at Hamilton 2017

  12

(-2)

Hashim Amla

SA

746

50.23

901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012

  13

(-1)

Ross Taylor

NZ

736

44.92

743 v Pak at Dunedin 2018

  14

(+1)

Aaron Finch

Aus

724

38.55

743 v Eng at Melbourne 2015

  15

(-2)

MS Dhoni

Ind

717

51.37

836 v Aus at Delhi 2009

  16

( - )

Tamim Iqbal

Ban

698

34.98

721 v Zim at Mirpur 2018

  17

( - )

Steve Smith

Aus

692

41.84

752 v Pak at Sydney 2017

  18

( - )

Jos Buttler

Eng

656

37.63

723 v Ban at Mirpur 2016

  19

( - )

Mushfiqur Rahim

Ban

652

32.99

671 v Zim at Mirpur 2015

  20

( - )

Jason Roy

Eng

645

37.84

672 v Aus at Melbourne 2018 

BOWLERS (top 20)

Rank

(+/-)

Player

             Team

Points

Avge

Highest Rating

1=

(+8)

Rashid Khan

Afg

787*!

13.26

787 v Zim at Sharjah 2018

  

(+2)

Jasprit Bumrah

Ind

787*!

22.50

787 v SA at Centurion 2018

   3

(-1)

Trent Boult

NZ

729

24.27

766 v Ind at Delhi 2016

   4

( - )

J. Hazlewood

Aus

714

24.27

733 v Eng at Adelaide 2018

   5

( - )

Hasan Ali

Pak

711*

21.40

766 v NZ at Wellington 2018

   6

(-5)

Imran Tahir

SA

683

24.81

786 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   7

(-1)

Kagiso Rabada

SA

679

27.57

724 v Eng at Lord's 2017

   8

(+21)

Y. Chahal

Ind

667*!

21.83

667 v SA at Centurion 2018

   9

(-2)

Mitchell Santner

NZ

662 !

32.03

662 v Pak at Wellington 2018

  10

(-2)

Mitchell Starc

Aus

658

20.95

783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

  11

(+7)

Mohammad Nabi

Afg

646

31.74

653 v Zim at Harare 2017

  12

(-1)

Sunil Narine

Win

636

26.46

791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

  13

(-1)

Adil Rashid

Eng

632

31.78

655 v Ban at Chittagong 2016

  14

(-1)

Chris Woakes

Eng

630

31.83

651 v SA at Headingley 2017

  15

(+47)

Kuldeep Yadav

Ind

628*

20.02

637 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2018

  16

(-6)

Akshar Patel

Ind

624*

31.31

663 v Aus at Nagpur 2017

  17

(-3)

Pat Cummins

Aus

623

28.45

626 v Eng at Adelaide 2018

  18

(-3)

Matt Henry

NZ

621

24.59

675 v Aus at Hamilton 2016

  19

(-2)

Liam Plunkett

Eng

616

30.22

646 v Win at Southampton 2017

  20

(-1)

M. Rahman

Ban

601*

19.19

602 v Zim at Mirpur 2018

ALL-ROUNDERS (top 5)

Rank

(+/-)

Player

Team

Points

Highest Rating

   1

( - )

Shakib Al Hasan

Ban

360

453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   2

( - )

M. Hafeez

Pak

339

438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013

   3

( - )

M. Nabi

              Afg

332

349 v Ire at Greater Noida 2017

   4

(+11)

Rashid Khan

Afg

311*/*!

311 v Zim at Sharjah 2018

   5

(-1)

A. Mathews

SL

306

427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

Image: ICC website