The series loss to South Africa notwithstanding, India held on to their second spot in the team list, while star batsman Virat Kohli rose up a rung to second in the batsmen’s table of the latest ICC ODI cricket rankings issued.
South Africa retained their third position but reduced second-ranked India’s advantage to two points in the rankings following the 3-2 series victory.
Skipper de Villiers retained his number one ranking, and is now 96 points clear of Kohli in second place, after scoring three centuries (104 not out, 112 and 119) in five matches. Hashim Amla has dropped three places to fifth, while Dhoni has moved up two places to sixth and holds an 11-point advantage over his team-mate Shikhar Dhawan.
There is a career-high jump of seven places for Faf du Plessis who is level in 10th place with wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock, up 13 places after scoring 318 runs in the series, including 103 and a match-winning 109 in the decider.
In the ICC Players Rankings for ODI Bowlers, Australia’s Mitchell Starc has returned to the top of tree as Imran Tahir has slipped four places in the top 10. Dale Steyn has dropped one place to sixth, although Morne Morkel has climbed three places to eighth, and is now six points behind Mitchell Johnson, after claiming seven wickets for 132 runs in three matches.
R Ashwin has dropped a place to 10th, while a number of other bowlers have made significant gains across both series including Axar Patel (up 19 to 28th), Amit Mishra (up 13 to 32nd), Mohit Sharma (up four to 44th) and Kagiso Rabada has risen 58 places to a career-high 49th.