Virat Kohli had entered the Champions Trophy trailing top-ranked AB de Villers by 22 points © ICC
India captain Virat Kohli surpassed AB de Villiers and David Warner to reclaim the top spot in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen. Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, meanwhile, topped the ODI bowlers’ rankings for the first time in his career. South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who had gained the No.1 spot last month, dropped to fourth place.
Unbeaten knocks of 81 and 76 against Pakistan and South Africa in the ongoing Champions Trophy helped Kohli overtake Warner and de Villers, who had climbed to No.1 in March this year. Kohli, who had briefly held the No. 1 ranking in January, has a one-point lead over Warner. De Villiers, who had scores of 4, 0 and 16 in the Champions Trophy, dropped two places, and trails Warner by 14 points. Joe Root and Kane Williamson were ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
Hazlewood, who took nine wickets in three Champions Trophy matches, became the first Australian to top the ODI bowlers’ rankings since Mitchell Starc in October 2015. Imran Tahir and Starc retained their second and third rankings respectively. Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan gained 18 places to surge to seventh.
India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who is the leading run-getter in the Champions Trophy so far, leapfrogged five places to return to the top ten. Dhawan scored 271 runs in three innings during the league stage of the tournament, with two fifties and a century.
In the allrounders’ list, Ben Stokes gained one place to displace Mitchell Marsh at No. 6, while Shakib Al Hasan retained his place as the top ODI allrounder. Stokes did much better on the batting rankings, gaining nine points to climb to a career-best 20th, following a strong showing in the Champions Trophy, which included an unbeaten 102 against Australia.
South Africa, who exited the Champions Trophy after two losses in three league matches, retained their No. 1 spot on the team rankings, leading Australia and India by two points. England gained two points to climb to fourth and have a three-point lead over New Zealand. India have a chance to finish at the top of the ODI table at the end of the Champions Trophy. For that to happen, they will need to beat England in the final, a result that will give them a marginal lead over South Africa.
The top 10 ODI batsmen: 1. Virat Kohli, 2. David Warner, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Joe Root, 5 Kane Williamson, 6 Quinton de Kock, 7 Faf du Plessis, 8 Babar Azam, 9 Martin Guptill, 10 Shikhar Dhawan
The top 10 ODI bowlers: 1. Josh Hazlewood, 2. Imran Tahir, 3 Mitchell Starc, 4 Kagiso Rabada, 5 Sunil Narine, 6 Trent Boult, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Mohammad Nabi
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo