Kohli rises to second position in ODI rankings

Virat Kohli achieved his career-best ranking as he gained one position to be at second spot in the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, which was released today.

Kohli, who entered the India-Sri Lanka five-match ODI series as the third-ranked batsman, climbed to no. 2 following his player-of-the-series performance, in which he scored 296 runs.

The former India Under-19 captain, who led his side to victory in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2008 in Malaysia, also achieved a career-best rating of 866 after the fourth ODI, in which he scored 128 not out in India’s six-wicket victory.

Kohli now trails South Africa’s Hashim Amla by 13 ratings points and can potentially top the batting chart if the Proteas opener fails to perform in the five-ODI series against England, starting on August 24 in Cardiff.

Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has also broken into the top 10, which means India now has three batsmen inside the top 10 with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni sitting in fifth position.

Gambhir scored 258 runs in the series and has been rewarded with a jump of seven places, which has put him in 10th position.

Other Indian batsmen, who climbed up the order include Virender Sehwag in 26th (up by one) and Suresh Raina in 30th (up by two), while Rohit Sharma has slipped eight places to be at 54th.

There is no movement in the top 20 of the ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers.

In the ICC ODI Championship table, India’s 4-1 victory has helped them move up the ranking.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men now sit in second place when ratings points are calculated to within the decimal point, despite being on equal points with Australia.

The annual ICC ODI Championship update will now take place. The exact table after the annual update will be confirmed on August 8.