He is also one of only five players to have crossed 900 points in both forms of the game as he consolidated his top position with 558 runs in the 5-1 series win over South Africa, during which he slammed three centuries.
Kohli is on 909 points, 65 ahead of De Villiers, on 844.
Faf du Plessis’ 120-run knock in the first ODI against India, after which he was ruled out due to an injury, has seen him gain one slot to reach eighth position, but there were rating falls for Quinrton de Kock, down one to seventh, and Hashim Alma, down two to 12th.
Kohli has thus moved ahead of Brian Lara in the all-timers’ list, having also overtaken him in the all-timers’ Test list last month. Kohli is now seventh in the ODI list of all-time rankings that is led by Viv Richards with 935 points and the India captain is now a good 22 points clear of Sachin Tendulkar, whose ODI career high of 887 points came against Zimbabwe in January 1998. Kohli’s aggregate is the best since Lara reached 908 points in March 1993.
India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who aggregated 323 runs in the South Africa series, is another notable gainer in the latest rankings even as a clutch of Indian bowlers made rapid strides in the latest rankings, including the wrist-spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
Leg-spinner Chahal has moved up 21 slots to eighth position with 16 wickets in the South Africa series while Chinaman bowler Yadav’s 17 scalps have helped him move up 47 places to take the 15th position. Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s eight wickets have lifted him two places to take the joint-first position.
Imran Tahir has dropped five places to sixth, and Kagiso Rabada one place to seventh.
Photo: Chris Ricco/BackpagePix
