Kohli retains No.2 spot, Rohit slips in ODI rankings

Dubai, Sep 5 (IANS) India's Test captain Virat Kohli on Monday retained his second spot while opener Rohit Sharma slipped a place to seventh in the latest One-day International (ODI) cricket batting rankings.

Kohli has 813 points, a fair distance behind South African AB de Villiers (887) while compatriot Hashim Amla (778) is third. Rohit has 750 points just ahead of team-mate Shikhar Dhawan (737), according to a release by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

England batsman Joe Root surged into the top five for the first time after a stellar performance against Pakistan, which earned him the player of the series award.

The 25-year-old scored 274 runs in the series, which helped him leapfrog New Zealand's duo of Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill as well as Rohit into fourth position in the latest player rankings.

England's Alex Hales has risen four places to reach 20th spot after aggregating 223 runs in the series, including a belligerent 171 in the third ODI. Captain Eoin Morgan has gained four places and is now 24th.

The good news for Pakistan was the movement of its captain Azhar Ali and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

Azhar's 208 runs in the series has seen him move up 15 places to 33rd, while Sarfraz, who was the highest run-getter in the series from either side with 300 runs, has moved up 21 places to 39th position.

Sarfraz had a productive series with the bat when he scored 55, 105, 38, 12 and 90 in the series.

Azhar and Sarfraz are the only two Pakistan batsmen, who featured in the recent series against England, to figure inside the top 50. The next highest Pakistan batsman is Shoaib Malik in 67th spot.

Australia, which scripted a 4-1 series win over Sri Lanka, saw Aaron Finch and George Bailey move up two and three places, respectively. Finch is now 15th while Bailey claims the 17th spot.

The bowlers' table is led by Sunil Narine of the West Indies, while Trent Boult of New Zealand is in the second place. Australian Mitchell Starc jumped two rungs to be third.

England's Adil Rashid has broken into the top 10 for the first time, while fast bowler Chris Woakes has carried his Test form into limited overs cricket by entering the top 20 for the first time.

Rashid has been rewarded for his eight wickets in the series with a rise of six places that has put him in 10th position, while Woakes has climbed 13 places to 16th after finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the series with nine wickets.

--IANS

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