AB DE VILLIERS PASSES VIRAT TO RECLAIM TOP SPOT IN ODIS

NEWDELHI: Swashbuckling South Africa cricket team batsman AB de Villiers has once again grabbed the top position in the ICC ODI Player Rankings for Batsmen.

The 33-year-old, who has leapfrogged Australian David Warner and Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, first attained top position on May 30, 2010 and the number of days he has spent at the top is second most after retired Windies great Vivian Richards. De Villiers has now been at the top for 2,124 days while Richards was number one for 2,306 days.

An astonishing knock of 176 by De Villiers in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Paarl,which consisted of 15 fours and seven sixes and came off only 104 balls, has also helped South Africa edge India at the top of the ODI Team Rankings by taking a 2-0 winning lead in the threematch series.

The latest rankings, which take into account the first two matches of the South Africa Bangladesh series and the first three matches of the ongoing Pakistan-Sri Lanka series in the United Arab Emirates, sees De Villiers climb to the top of the ODI table for the 14th time in his career.

Other batsmen to move up include Pakistan’s Babar Azam (up two places to a career-best fourth position), the South African pair of Quinton de Kock (up three places to fifth) and Hashim Amla (up two places to ninth), and Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim (up five places to 18th).

India will be looking to wrest back the top spot in the team rankings when they take on New Zealand in an upcoming threematch series.

South Africa and India are both on 120 points with South Africa ahead on decimal points. South Africa can reach 121 points if they complete a 3-0 series win over Bangladesh but India will overtake them if they win the opening match against New Zealand, to be played the same day as the last South Africa-Bangladesh match, on 22 October.