After the end of the ODI series between India and West Indies, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has published the final ODI players’ rankings of the year. Indian captain Virat Kohli has finished as the top-ranked ODI batsman while his limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma has finished in the second position in ODI batting rankings.
The Indian national cricket team won another home ODI series as they beat the Caribbean side in the three-match ODI series by the 2-1 margin. After this victory, India settled themselves in the second position in ODI team rankings with 121 rating points. England, who won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, have maintained their top position in the ODI team rankings with 125 rating points.
Virat Kohli struggled in the series; Rohit Sharma won Player of the Series award
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma finished the year of 2019 with the Player of the Series award that he won in the home ODI series against West Indies. In this series, the right-handed opening batsman scored 36, 159 and 63 runs respectively as he scored 258 runs in three innings with an average of 86.00.
On the other hand, captain Virat Kohli’s bat was mostly silent during this series, but it once again shined in the last ODI at Cuttack, when it was much needed for the team. After failing in the first two ODIs (4 & 0), Kohli played the match-winning knock of 85 runs which also provided him with the Player of the Match award. We can say that his last knock of the year has helped Kohli to stay on top of ICC ODI batting rankings with 887 rating points.
In the meantime, Rohit Sharma has maintained the second position in the ICC ODI batting rankings with 873 rating points.
Shai Hope, who finished as the second most run-scorer in the India-Windies ODI series, has climbed up the five spots to secure the ninth position in the ICC ODI batting rankings. Hope scored 222 runs in three innings with an average of 111.00 (102*, 78, 42).
Hope’s teammate Nicholas Pooran has climbed up to the 30th spot in the ICC ODI batting rankings. Pooran was the third most run-scorer in that ODI series as he scored 193 runs in three innings with an average of 96.50 (29*, 75 and 89).
Another Indian opening batsman KL Rahul has also moved up to the 71st spot in ICC ODI batting rankings after finding his form with that bat. In that ODI series, Rahul scored 185 runs with an average of 61.66 (6, 102 and 77).
Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami slipped down in the ODI bowling rankings
Despite taking a hat-trick in the Visakhapatnam ODI, Kuldeep Yadav has slipped down to the 12th spot of the ICC ODI bowling rankings as he failed to maintain that performance in the other games of that series.
Though the Indian right-arm pacer Mohammed Shami was India’s leading wicket-taker in that series as he bagged five wickets, he also slipped down to the 22nd spot in the ICC ODI bowling rankings.
