Team India captain Virat Kohli managed to hold on to the top spot in latest ICC ODI rankings for the batsman. Kohli, who failed to score a century in the 2020 calendar year, slammed 173 runs in the three-match ODI series against Australia. While, Rohit Sharma also remained at the second spot in the tally, despite missing the ODI series.
Flamboyant India all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was selected in the series as ‘pure batsman’ gained big on the rankings. Pandya entered in the top 50 batsmen listing at 49th place with a career-best of 553 points. The 27-year-old was the highest run-getter for the visitors in the recently concluded ODI series with 210 runs in 3 games. The power-hitting batsman missed out on his maiden ODI century twice in the series with the score of 90 in the first game and 92 not out in the third.
🔸 One 💯, two fifties
🏏 249 runs at 83Australia captain Aaron Finch, who was the top run-scorer in the #AUSvIND ODIs, has moved into the top five in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's ODI Batting Rankings 🙌 pic.twitter.com/U2ZSH5fDCW
— ICC (@ICC) December 10, 2020
Meanwhile, Australian batsmen had a wonderful time in the middle in the 2-1 ODI series win against India. Skipper Aaron Finch, who was the highest-run getter in the series with 249 runs, jumped to the fifth spot with his career-best tally of 791 points. Finch scored 114 in the first ODI, followed by 60 and 75, and played a monumental role in Australia’s victory.
Steve Smith also returned to the top 20 of the batsman rankings for the first time since 2018. with two centuries in the series. He is currently at number fifteen with 707 points. Glenn Maxwell’s 167 runs in the series came at a strike rate of 194.18 and featured two half-centuries, to push him back up to 20th rank. This is the first time he has been in the top 20 since February 2017.
Josh Hazlewood, who picked up six wickets at 30 during the #AUSvIND ODI series, has moved to No.6 in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's ODI Bowling Rankings 🙌
FULL RANKINGS ➡️ https://t.co/lRP67a820b pic.twitter.com/5wZrViPhcU
— ICC (@ICC) December 10, 2020
Australia bowlers also made improvement in their rankings as Zampa’s seven wickets at 23 took him to the fourteenth position with a career-best 623 points. Josh Hazlewood took six wickets and moved up a place to the sixth rank. While India’s Jasprit Bumrah slipped to the third spot with 700 points after an underwhelming show in the ODI series. Afghanistan’s Mujeeb ur Rahman managed to pip India’s paceman to jump to the second spot with 701 points.
