New Delhi: After a series-winning weekend, Monday brought more smiles for Indian cricket as captains Virat Kohli and Mithali Raj climbed to No. 1 spots in the ODI rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
While Kohli reclaimed the numero uno spot he lost to South Africa's AB de Villiers ten days ago, the Indian women's team captain, Mithali, led the ODI rankings for batswomen - ahead of Ellyse Perry of Australia and Amy Satterthwaite of New Zealand. However, Meg Lanning of Australia dropped from first to fourth position after missing the series against England due to injury.
Kohli's 32nd ODI century on Sunday not only helped India win the series against New Zealand 2-1 but also perched him back on top as the best batsman in ODIs, with career-high rating points of 889, which broke the Indian record that previously stood in the name of Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar jointly at 887 points.
Mithali topped the charts with 753 points, while Perry and Satterthwaite stood at 725 and 720 points respectively.
Among women bowlers, Jhulan Goswami remained at second spot with 652 rating points, behind Marizanne Kapp (656) of South Africa.
In the men's ICC Rankings for ODI batsmen, behind Kohli at No. 1 and De Villiers (872 points) at No. 2 is Australia's vice-captain David Warner with 865 points.
The 28-year-old Kohli scored 263 runs in the series against New Zealand, including knocks of 121 in the first ODI in Mumbai and 113 in the final ODI in Kanpur. Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is up one place to 11th, while New Zealand batsman Tom Latham's good show in the series has seen him jump 15 places to a career-best 23rd.
The list for bowlers among the men continues to be led by Pakistan pace bowler Hasan Ali while India speedster Jasprit Bumrah has reached a career-best third position after finishing with six wickets in the series against New Zealand.
India’s 2-1 win over New Zealand, however, was not enough for them to overtake South Africa, who continue to hold the top ranking in the ICC ODI Team Rankings at 121 points, ahead of India by two points.
Meanwhile in women's cricket, defending champions Australia's 2-1 victory over England in the ICC Women's Championship series has not only helped them garner four useful points but also regain the top spot in the women's team rankings.
England had displaced Australia from the top spot for the first time after the annual update earlier this month,
Starting the series ahead on decimal points with both teams on 128 points, Australia made the most of the home conditions to prevail despite the absence of first-choice captain and leading batter Meg Lanning, going up to 129 points and ensuring a two-point lead in the process.
Teams get two points for each win, one point for a tie or no-result and no points for a loss in the ICC Women's Championship, which will see ICC Women's World Cup 2021 hosts New Zealand and the three other top teams gain direct qualification to the pinnacle women's 50-over event.
The remaining four sides will get a second chance through the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier event. India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the other sides in ICC Women's Championship, which runs till 2020.
(With inputs from agencies and ICC Press Release)
