Virat Kohli, Mitchell Starc and MS Dhoni have been voted as the best batsman, bowler and wicketkeeper, respectively in the world, according to a survey of the top eight One-Day International team’s captain by BBC Sports survey.
With all the top eight teams currently in England for the ICC Champions Trophy, the news outlet asked the captains of each team to vote for their top three batsmen, bowlers and wicketkeepers in world cricket, taking into account all formats.
As per the rule of the survey, the captains were not allowed to vote for players from their own country and their first selection would get three points, their second selection two points and the last would get a solitary point. Meanwhile, barring India and Sri Lanka, all the other six teams competing in the tournament- Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa- took part in the survey while the two Asian countries failed to meet the deadline.
Coming to the results, India skipper Virat Kohli was voted as the best batsman in the world ahead of the likes of Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steven Smith. The 28-year old got the vote of three international captains as the best in the world while the other three captains voted him as the second best. Two of those voted went into the favour of South Africa’s ODI skipper AB de Villiers who is second in the list while the remaining one went to third-placed Kane Williamson.
Hashim Amla, Joe Root and Steve Smith are the next batsmen in the list.
Australia’s pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, meanwhile, was picked as the best bowler in the world by a good margin with four of the five captains selecting him as their number one pick while Starc’s compatriot and Aussie skipper Steven Smith was not eligible to vote. One captain gave his number one vote to South Africa pacer Dale Steyn.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the sole Indian bowler to make it to the list.
India’s former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni edged out his South African counterpart Quinton de Kock in the race for the best wicketkeeper in the world. India’s Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha also made it to the list.
