After a perfect series against Sri Lanka at home, where they whitewashed them 5-0, a few South African players have achieved tremendous gains in the respective sections of ICC ODI Rankings. Ace spinner Imran Tahir, who entered the five-match series as the third ranked ODI bowler, has emerged at the top after a great outing and has edged past New Zealand’s Trent Boult and West Indies’ Sunil Narine to become the No. 1 ranked ODI bowler in the ICC Player Rankings.
Tahir isn’t the sole South African to profit from a productive series as vice-captain of the ODI team, Faf du Plessis to has broken into the top 5 batsmen for the first time in his career. Du Plessis, who registered a career best score of 185 in the fourth ODI, gained as many as 67 points throughout the series and is ranked No. 5 in the batsmen rankings.
Faf is followed closely by his South African teammates Quinton De Kock (5th) and Hashim Amla (6th). The duo had an outstanding series as well, with both scoring delightful tons in the fifth and final ODI at Centurion.
Du Plessis was also named the Man of the Series for his sensational performance and he said:
“It’s been a nice series. I got some big scores and pretty happy. We have got lots of guys putting their hands up at different stages. Every time I go back I forgot about what happened in the previous game and just look to hit the ball well in nets. Just about making sure I keep ticking the technical boxes. Playing the ball really nice and late. My ankle was a bit painful towards the end, but nothing to worry.”
South Africa’s next assignment will be the tour of New Zealand, where they’ll play five ODIs in what promises to be a thrilling series.