NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli reclaimed his throne as the world’s best One-day International batsman on Monday after smashing his sixth ton of the year in India’s series-clinching victory over New Zealand.

The India skipper, who cracked a 106-ball 113 in Kanpur, surpassed South Africa’s A.B. de Villiers as number one as he resumed the top spot after a gap of just 10 days.

Kohli was the top run-scorer in the New Zealand series, accumulating 263 over three matches including his 32nd ODI century on Sunday as India secured a 2-1 series victory.

He also paired with opener Rohit Sharma for a 230-run stand as they became the first batsmen to share four double century ODI partnerships.

Kohli, who also tops the Twenty20 batting chart, also became the fastest batsman to reach 9,000 ODI runs in the game at Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium.

The incomparable Kohli has also reached a career-high in terms of rating points.

The 28-year-old Delhi batsman has reached 889 points, which is the best ever by an India batsman. The previous highest points’ tally of 887 was managed by Sachin Tendulkar in 1998 and by Kohli earlier this year.

Sharma’s 174 runs in the series against New Zealand, which included a fine 147 in Sunday’s final match, has seen him reach a career-high rating of 799 points, even though he remains in seventh position. Similarly, Pakistan’s Babar Azam (fourth position) and South Africa’s Quinton de Kock (fifth position) have also attained their highest in terms of rating points.

South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis (up two places to 8th), former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (up one place to 11th), New Zealand batsman Tom Latham (up 15 places to a career-best 23rd), Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed (up three places to 37th) and Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne (up six places to 47th) are among the batsmen to move up in the rankings.

The list for bowlers continues to be led by Pakistan pace bowler Hasan Ali while India pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah has reached a career-best third position after finishing with six wickets in the series against New Zealand.

Other bowlers to move northwards include left-arm spinners Mitchell Santner of New Zealand (up two places to 14th) and Pakistan’s Imad Wasim (up 14 places to 27th). Adam Milne has also made significant movement, gaining 11 slots to reach 42nd position.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2017