Daryl Mitchell Grabs no.1 Spot

New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell has dislodged Virat Kohli to regain the top spot in the ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings after an outstanding run in the three-match series against India which the visiting side won 2-1 to clinch their first ever ODI series in India.

Mitchell capped the series with a career-best 137 in the final match in Indore and was named the Player of the Series after he finished with 352 runs, the most by a visiting batter in a series of three or fewer games in India. Mitchell, who had scored 84 and 131 not out in the first two matches, is now at a career-best 845 rating points, the second best by a Kiwi batter after Glenn Turner’s 854 in June 1983.

Mitchell had earlier been No. 1 for three days in November before being overtaken by Rohit Sharma, who had then ascended to the top for the first time in his career. For Kohli, his return to the top spot was a short one as he had stormed to the top spot last week and now trails Mitchell by 50 rating points.

Glenn Phillips has also attained a career-best 20^th position after scoring 106 in the final match while Will Young has moved up 10 slots to 44^th position and K.L. Rahul into the top 10.

Michael Bracewall has progressed in all three lists – up four places to 64^th among batters, up six places to 33^rd among bowlers and up to sixth among all-rounders. The India bowlers to gain are seamers Harshit Rana (up 27 places to 50^th) and Arshdeep Singh (up 15 places to joint-54^th).

In the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings, Afghanistan batter Ibrahim Zadran has moved up five places to 15^th position while Johnson Charles of the West Indies has progressed six places to 51^st after their first T20I.

Afghanistan spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman have moved up two places each to second and 14^th positions, respectively, while West Indies spinner Gudakesh Motie has gone from 48^th to 41st.