AB de Villiers extends lead over Virat Kohli at top of ICC ODI rankings for batsmen

AB de Villiers

South Africa’s Quinton de Kock and a trio of Australia batsmen – Aaron Finch, James Faulkner and Steven Smith – have made advances in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen, which were released on Monday, a day after the four-time world champion won the series 4-1 to move ahead of India in the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings.

De Kock’s 109 on Sunday, his sixth ODI century in 36 matches which later earned him the man of the match award, has moved to a career-high seventh position, a rise of two places.

Australia opener Aaron Finch, who finished as the third highest run-getter in the series behind AB de Villiers (271) and Steven Smith (254) with 250 runs that included scores of 109 and 76 in the third and fifth ODIs, has vaulted six places to 15th. He’s now six rating points behind Faf du Plessis of South Africa, who has slipped one place to 14th.

There were also positive movements for James Faulkner (up four places to 40th) and Steven Smith, who has vaulted 31 places to 50th after a consistent run of 10, 73 not out, 104 and 67, respectively, in his four appearances in the series. Smith was declared the player of the series.

De Villiers has strengthened his grip on the number-one batting ranking by extending his advantage of India’s Virat Kohli to 25 rating points, with third-ranked Hashim Amla another 34 rating points behind.

Rank	Player	Country	Points
1	AB de Villiers	South Africa	887
2	Virat Kohli	India	862
3	Hashim Amla	South Africa	828
4	Shikhar Dhawan	India	777
5	Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	776
6	George Bailey	Australia	771
7	Quinton de Kock	South Africa	749
8	MS Dhoni	India	738
9	Tillakaratne Dilshan	Sri Lanka	731
10	Angelo Mathews	Sri Lanka	706