DUBAI - Saeed Ajmal reclaimed his crown in the bowling charts, jumping up two places to displace Ravindra Jadeja and Sunil Narine. Virat Kohli’s outstanding form in one-dayers has lifted him to the top of the ICC batting rankings in ODIs, the first time he has reached No. 1.
The other major change in the batting top ten was the rise of Australia captain George Bailey to No 3, up six places after a series in which he made 478 runs at an average of 95.60 in six innings. The other big gainer in the bowling top ten is South Africa’s Morne Morkel, who also climbed six spots to reach No 7.
India’s openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, both of whom were in form against Australia, have also risen sharply in the rankings. Rohit, who broke the record aggregate for a bilateral series with 491 runs, has leaped 25 spots to a career-best 15th place, while Dhawan, who is enjoying a golden 2013, has moved up to 12 places to be No. 11. With MS Dhoni at No. 6 and Suresh Raina 19th, India have five batsmen in the top 20.
Kohli takes over as No. 1 from Hashim Amla, who has held the top spot since November 2010. He smashed the quickest and the third quickest centuries by an Indian in ODIs to power two 350-plus chases against Australia, and is among four batsmen to have scored more than 1000 runs this year. While the series in India has been dominated by batsmen, the Pakistan v South Africa ODIs have seen bowlers make more of an impact. Ajmal took six wickets in the first two ODIs to move past Jadeja and Narine.
top 10 odi batsmen
Rank Name Country Rating
1 V Kohli IND 857
2 H Amla SA 844
3 G Bailey AUS 835
4 K Sangakkara SL 829
5 AB de Villiers SA 826
6 MS Dhoni IND 780
7 J. Trott ENG 754
8 T Dilshan SL 746
9 Misbah-ul-Haq PAK 720
10 S Watson AUS 708
top 10 odi bowlers
Rank Name Country Rating
1 Saeed Ajmal PAK 768
2 SP Narine WI 733
3 R Jadeja IND 716
4 S Finn ENG 708
5 R Herath SL 699
6 J Anderson ENG 696
7 M Morkel SA 672
8 M Johnson AUS 670
9 L Tsotsobe SA 667
10 M Hafeez PAK 666