10Cric IPL

Kohli attains rare double in ICC Rankings

·         India captain becomes only the second batsman to cross the 900-point mark concurrently in Tests and ODIs

·         Rashid Khan and Jasprit Bumrah take joint-top position among bowlers; Rashid also moves into top-five among all-rounders

 

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.

 

icc 31Kohli 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, who is the first India batsman to touch the 900-point mark in ODIs, has the best aggregate since 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 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 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 115th place among batsmen.

 

Other Afghanistan players to gain in the latest rankings include batsmen Rahmat Shah (up 39 places to 42nd), Javed Ahmedi (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 eighth position.

 

Meanwhile, Afghanistan have overtaken Zimbabwe in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings. Afghanistan have gained four points to take 10th position with 55 points while Zimbabwe have lost three points to be on 50 points.

 

England v New Zealand 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 on decimal points by winning the series 3-2. Both teams can reach second position on the table 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; England 116 points

·         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):

 

Rank    Team                Points

1.     India                 123 (+4)

2.     South Africa      117 (-4)

3.     England            116

4.     New Zealand     115

5.     Australia           112

6.     Pakistan           96

7.     Bangladesh       90

8.     Sri Lanka          84

9.     Windies            76

10.  Afghanistan      55 (+4)

11.  Zimbabwe         50 (-3)

12.  Ireland              40

 

(Developed by David Kendix)

 

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

 

*Indicates a provisional rating

! Indicates career-best rating