Virat Kohli’s outstanding form in series that was dominated by the batsmen, between India and Australia, has seen him leap to the top of the ICC’s ODI batting rankings.
The first time that he has sat astride the rest of the world’s finest players.
Saeed Ajmal has reclaimed the top spot in the bowling rankings, in the latest list released by the world’s governing body, jumping from third to first, to take the place of the previous No.1 Ravindra Jadeja.
Jadeja suffered, just as Kohli benefited, from the pitches that the recently finished India-Australia series was played on, and the new regulations, which appear to be too heavily loaded in favour of the batsmen.
Australian captain, George Bailey, has risen from No.9 to the heights of No.3 in the list, after accumulating 478 runs against India, at an average of 95.6, from the six innings that he played against India.
Despite his own personal success in that series, he will have been dis-appointed that his side was unable to close out a victory, going down 3-2, after leading 2-1, with two games to play.
Indian opener Rohit Sharma who set a new record for a bilateral ODI series with 491 runs against the Australians, leapt from 40th to 15th place in the rankings, while his opening partner, Shikhar Dhawan moved up 12 places to stand at No. 11.
Skipper MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina completed the list of India’s players that occupy places in the world’s top 20 batsmen, standing at No.6 and No.19 respectively.
Kohli has replaced South Africa’s, Hashim Amla, at No. 1 who has held the top position, since November 2010.
Kohli scored the quickest and the third quickest centuries by an Indian in ODIs, and led two astonishing run chases against Australia, as his side scored two successful 350-plus chases, and he is one of four batsmen to have accumulated more than 1000 runs this year.