Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah stay top of ICC player rankings
Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah continue to lead the way in the updated ICC ODI player rankings. Player of the Tournament, Kane Williamson, moved up two spots to the sixth position among the batsmen, while his teammate Matt Henry has been rewarded with a move into the list of top 10 bowlers.
The World Cup is over. England are champions. For a third consecutive time, the hosting country has ended up lifting the title. It is time for stats and analysis to run wild. Well, one such stat is the ICC player rankings, a reward for some impressive performances in the World Cup and quite a few have turned up recipients.
The Indian skipper, who notched up 442 runs despite not being at his best, continues to lead the way as the No.1 ODI batsmen in the world. His strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who held the Indian bowling together with 18 wickets in nine outings, is still the king of the bowlers.
The batting top 10, consisting only of top-order batsmen, with Ross Taylor at No.5 as the sole exception, continues to be led by three Asians. King Kohli is only marginally ahead of his compatriot Rohit Sharma, who was the World Cup's top scorer with 648 runs. Pakistan’s Babar Azam, often called their Kohli, is at No.3.
For his fine performances that earned him the World Cup Player of the Tournament award, Williamson moved up two places to the sixth position. England’s Jason Roy, who it turns out was the lynchpin of their batting lineup, entered the top 10, after making 443 runs in seven innings with four fifties and a century.
Faf du Plessis holds his place at no.4, and David Warner, Joe Root, and Quinton de Kock make up the rest of the top 10. All-rounder Ben Stokes caught up with his captain Eoin Morgan at 21st, while Jos Buttler (17), Steve Smith (29), and Alex Carey (32) jumped two spots each.
In the bowling department, Trent Boult continued to follow in the heels of Bumrah at no.2. Chris Woakes and Matt Henry, for their deadly opening spells, marched into the top 10. Woakes is at seventh, and Henry at 10th, in the list that includes only two spinners - Imran Tahir and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Perhaps the biggest gainer was England’s other new ball bowler, Jofra Archer. Archer, who picked up 20 wickets in 11 matches, moved up 13 spots to be placed at 29th. Meanwhile, left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner were promoted two spots each to 32nd and 33rd respectively.
There are no changes in the all-rounders list, led by Shakib Al Hasan, and the team’s rankings, led by the world champions, England.
