cricket

Updated: Feb 20, 2018 20:25 IST

Virat Kohli on Tuesday became the second batsman ever after South Africa’s AB de Villiers to have earned more than 900 rating points in ICC Rankings, in Test and ODI cricket concurrently.

Kohli also became the first Indian batsmen ever to have breached the 900-point mark in ODIs, extending his lead over de Villiers. Kohli now has 909 points, well ahead of de Villiers who has 844.

Virat Kohli’s 909 rating points are also the highest in the last 27 years since Australia’s Dean Jones in 1991, who back then had earned 918 points.

Before Kohli’s feat, de Villiers has been the only batsman to have carried more than 900 rating points in both Test and ODI cricket. It was in 2015 that de Villiers had 902 points in ODIs, while in Tests, he had 935.

Kohli’s gain comes after he created the world record of scoring most runs in a bilateral ODI series during the recent six-match India versus South Africa affair.

Averaging a mind-boggling 186, the Indian cricket team captain hammered a record 558 runs with three centuries and one half-century, and was dismissed only thrice as India won 5-1. It also marked the first instance of a batsman scoring more than 500 runs in a bilateral series.

“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,” the ICC said in its release.

Among the bowlers, India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Afghanistan sensation Rashid Khan earned joint 787 rating points and occupy the first two spots respectively.

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, who played only in the first ODI against India and scored a fine century, moved up one position to reach the eighth spot.

Indian cricketers make merry

With 323 runs in the ODI series, Shikhar Dhawan moved up as many as four positions to reach the 10th spot in the ICC Rankings. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who claimed 16 wickets in six matches, moved up eight positions to the 21st whereas Chinman bowler Kuldeep Yadav rose 15 positions to get to the 47th spot.

“Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s eight wickets have lifted him two places to take the joint-first position,” the ICC release added.

Rashid Khan continues to rise

The Afghanistan spinner played a key role in his team’s ODI series win against Zimbabwe, and thus gained from his splendid performance which saw him grabbing 16 wickets in five matches.

“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,” the release informed.

Afghanistan also moved up one position up in ICC Rankings for Teams, going past Zimbabwe to become the 10th-ranked team.