India captain Virat Kohli became the second batsman ever after South Africa’s AB de Villiers to have earned more than 900 rating points in ICC Rankings, in Test and ODI cricket concurrently. He also became the first Indian batsmen ever to have breached the 900-point mark in ODIs, extending his lead over de Villiers. Kohli now has 909 points, well ahead of de Villiers who has 844.
Kohli’s 909 rating points are also the highest in the last 27 years since Australia’s Dean Jones in 1991, who then had earned 918 points. Before Kohli’s feat, de Villiers has been the only batsman to have carried more than 900 rating points in both Test and ODI cricket. It was in 2015 that de Villiers had 902 points in ODIs, while in Tests, he had 935.
Averaging a mind-boggling 186, Kohli hammered a record 558 runs with three centuries and one half-century, and was dismissed only thrice as India won the T20 series 5-1. It also marked the first instance of a batsman scoring more than 500 runs in a bilateral series.
“Kohli has thus moved ahead of Brian Lara in the all-timers’ list, having also overtaken him in the all-timers’ Test list last month. Kohli is now seventh in the ODI list of all-time rankings that is led by Vivian Richards with 935 points and the India captain is now a good 22 points clear of Sachin Tendulkar, whose ODI career high of 887 points came against Zimbabwe in January 1998. Kohli’s aggregate is the best since Brian Lara reached 911 points in March 1993,” the ICC said in its release.
Among the bowlers, India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Afghanistan sensation Rashid Khan earned joint 787 rating points and occupy the first two spots respectively. South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, who played only in the first ODI against India and scored a fine century, moved up one position to reach the eighth spot.
