Kohli scored 263 runs in the series against Kiwis and logged a career-high rating points of 889 – he has thereby gone past cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar. (Image: PTI)Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli has returned to the top of the ICC rankings for batsmen in One Day International (ODI) cricket after smashing his 32nd ODI century on Sunday against New Zealand. Kohli scored 263 runs in the series against Kiwis and logged a career-high rating points of 889 – he has thereby gone past cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar. This is the highest points tally scored by any Indian in the history of international cricket. The 28-year-old ace batsman moved back to the top within 10 days of losing the spot to South African batsman AB de Villiers. Not just this, Kohli on Sunday also became the fastest batsman to score 9,000 runs in ODIs during the series-deciding third game against New Zealand in Kanpur.
Accompanying Kohli, Indian women’s cricket team skipper Mithali Raj too regained the top spot in the latest ICC ODI rankings for batswomen. Mithali has 753 points followed by Australia’s Ellyse Perry and New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite with 725 and 720 points respectively. As off now, Mithali is the only Indian batter in the top-10 ranking and her elevation to the top comes after the stellar performance shown at the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup.
She is also the third highest run getter in the tournament. Mithali also bagged the record of being the first ever ODI women cricketer to score 6000 career runs. Indian women’s team enjoyed a fantastic World Cup tournament, only falling at the very last hurdle in the final at Lord’s against England.
In the men’s squad, India opener Rohit Sharma scored a total of 174 runs in the series against New Zealand which escalated him to a career-high rating of 799 points. However, he still remains in seventh position. Former captain and ace batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has risen one place to 11th in the latest ODI rankings.