Kohli rises to No.2 in ODI rankings

Dubai, Nov 17 (IANS) India’s hard-hitting batsman Virat Kohli rose a place to be ranked second in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) One-Day International (ODI) rankings for batsmen following India’s 5-0 series victory over Sri Lanka.

Teammate Rohit Sharma has vaulted to 15th as the reigning World Cup champions continue their preparations for the 2015 World Cup.

Kohli completed a series-highest score of 139 not out in the fifth ODI in Ranchi Sunday, having earlier scored 66, 53 and 49, while Rohit rose spectacularly by 18 places after his world-record breaking innings of 264 in Kolkata, in what was the 27-year-old’s second ODI career double-century.

Among the ODI bowlers, offie Ravichandran Ashwin climbed a place to 15th to be 21 points off a place in the top-10.

The biggest movers were fast-medium bowler Umesh Yadav, who claimed 10 wickets to climb eight places to the 40th, and slow left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who moved 11 places to a career high 71st after claiming 11 wickets in the series.

India will next be seen in ODI action in a tri-series involving England and hosts Australia in January, prior to the start of the World Cup.

ICC ODI batsmen rankings:
1. AB de Villiers (South Africa) 887 points
2. Virat Kohli (India) 862
3. Hashim Amla (South Africa) 834
4. George Bailey (Australia) 810
5. Shikhar Dhawan (India) 777
6. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 776
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India) 738
8. Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka) 731
9. Quinton de Kock (South Africa) 718
10. Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) 706

Bowling:
1. Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan) 770
2. Sunil Narine (West Indies) 753
3. Dale Steyn (South Africa) 712
4. James Anderson (England) 690
5. Mitchell Johnson (Australia) 690
6. Morne Morkel (South Africa) 651
7. Mohammed Hafeez (Pakistan) 647
8. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India) 641
9. Steven Finn (England) 640
10. Ravindra Jadeja (India) 638

All-rounders:
1. Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) 420
2. Mohammed Hafeez (Pakistan) 411
3. Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh) 361
4. Ravindra Jadeja (India) 336
5. Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka) 312