No Pakistani in top 10; Amla leads ODI batsmen rankings

DUBAI (Agencies) - South Africa's Hashim Amla is still number one in ICC player rankings issued on Friday while no Pakistani batsmen were at top ten spots. He has retained this position since November 2, 2010 when he took this place from fellow South African cricketer AB de Villiers. Amla was at his best in 2010, when he scored 1058 runs from 15 matches at an amazing average of 75.57. He was the only player to score more than 1000- runs in that calendar year and also reaped five centuries in the process. Though, in the recent ODI series against India, Hashim has failed a couple of times but still he retains the top spot. His current rating is 854 points. Another Proteas, AB de Villiers, is ranked second with a rating of 809 points. He also had a magnificent year scoring 964 runs from 16 matches at a staggering average of 80.33. Australia's "Mr. Cricket", Michael Hussey, clings on to his third spot. Followed by, Indian skipper Mahindra Singh Dhoni at fourth and rising superstar Virat Kohli at fifth. Kohli snagged this position from veteran Sri Lankan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, who slips two places down to number seven spot. South African all-rounder, Jacques Kallis, also slips two places and is now at ninth. India's Sachin Tendulkar and Aussie skipper, Ricky Ponting, move down the queue and are now placed at 11th spot. Both superstars were previously ranked ninth. On the other hand, Gautham Gambhir makes it to the top ten ODI batsmen list. South Africa and India dominate the batsmen rankings with three players each, while West Indies have two players and Sri Lanka have one player in the top ten ODI batsmen. England, Pakistan and New Zealand don't have any batsmen in the top 15. On the other hand, New Zealand's, Daniel Vettori, tops the chart of ICC ODI bowling ranking. Bangladesh's Abdul Razzak has hustled to take up second place. Shakib Al Hassan, who previously held this spot, has now slipped to fifth. English right arm orthodox spinner, Graeme Swann, is at third position alongside Zimbabwean international RW Price. Stuart Broad, who is currently recovering from an injury, dropped one position and is now at sixth. Nuwan Kulasekera is at seventh after slipping three spots. India's Praveen Kumar makes a leap of two places and is now in the top ten. England dominates bowling rankings with three bowlers in the top ten, while Bangladesh has two representatives. Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand, Australia and Zimbabwe have one player each. Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi are ranked 13th and 15th respectively. In ODI team rankings, World Champions, Australia are on top of the table with 129 rating points. India are placed at second with 122 rating points followed closely by another South-Asian side, Sri Lanka, who are at 118 rating points. South Africa, England and Pakistan are placed fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. There are a number of ODI series, which are under way, Pakistan is touring New Zealand, India is on tour of South Africa, and England is touring Australia. So changes in the rankings are expected especially for the players in the above mentioned cricket teams.

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