ICC ODI Batsmen Rankings: Virat Kohli steady at number two as AB de Villiers tops the chart

India’s batting maestro Virat Kohli held on to the number two position in the latest ICC ODI rankings for batsmen released on Monday, while Rohit Sharma dropped a place to seventh.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan maintained his eighth position.

England batsman Joe Root has surged into the top five of rankings for the first time after a stellar performance against Pakistan, which earned him the player of the series award.

The 25-year-old scored 274 runs in the series, which helped him leapfrog New Zealand’s duo of Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill as well as India batsman Rohit Sharma into fourth position in the latest player rankings.

During the series, the Yorkshireman also achieved a career-best rating of 776 points, which he had attained after the third ODI at Trent Bridge in which he scored 85.

Root is one of the four England batsmen to make upward movement following a 4-1 series win over Pakistan.

Alex Hales has risen four places to reach 20^th spot after aggregating 223 runs in the series, including a belligerent 171 in the third ODI, captain Eoin Morgan has gained four places and is now in 24^th spot, while Jason Roy’s series contribution of 181 runs have helped him rise 10 places to share 35^th spot with Dinesh Chandimal, who himself has moved up 15 places following a good series with the bat against Australia.

The good news for Pakistan was the movement of its captain Azhar Ali and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

Azhar’s 208 runs in the series has seen him move up 15 places to 33^rd rank, while Sarfraz, who was the highest run-getter in the series from either side with 300 runs, has moved up 21 places to 39^th position.

Sarfraz had a productive series with the bat when he scored 55, 105, 38, 12 and 90 in the series.

Azhar and Sarfraz are the only two Pakistan batsmen, who featured in the recent series against England, to figure inside the top 50. The next highest Pakistan batsman is Shoaib Malik in 67^th spot.

Australia, which scripted a similar 4-1 series win over Sri Lanka, saw Aaron Finch and George Bailey move up two and three places, respectively. Finch is now in 15^th position while Bailey claims 17^th spot.

Bailey finished the series as the most successful batsman with 270 runs, which later earned him the player of the series award, 34 runs more than Chandimal who ended up in 35^th spot after rising 15 places.

AB de Villiers of South Africa is the number-one ranked ODI batsman, and he is followed by India’s Virat Kohli and team-mate Hashim Amla, in second and third positions, respectively.

In the players rankings for bowlers, Australia pacers Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner and John Hastings have made significant gains after their performances in Sri Lanka.