Virat Kohli becomes first Indian to cross 900 points in ICC ODI player rankings

India captain Virat Kohli continued his record breaking spree after the International Cricket Council announced that he had crossed the 900-point mark in the One-day International rankings. He became only the seventh batsman to do so and currently lies seventh in the all-time list with 909 points. The highest in the table is West Indian great Viv Richards, who has 935 points to his name.

Late last year, Kohli crossed the 900-point mark in Tests too: He currently lies second in the table in the longest format, 35 behind Australia captain Steve Smith, who has 947 rating points.

Only four batsmen before Kohli have managed to cross the 900-point mark previously in ODIs and Tests – Richards, Brian Lara, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers. The 29-year-old is a whopping 65 points ahead of the second-placed De Villiers in the fifty-over format.

Kohli’s pyrotechnics played a huge hand in his side registering a thumping 5-1 win in recently concluded bilateral series against South Africa. He smashed 558 runs – a new record – in the six games, scoring at an astounding average of 186 a piece. 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.

Kohlis aggregate is the best since Brian Lara reached 911 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. Indian bowlers also made rapid strides in the latest rankings, including the wrist-spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.

Meanwhile, India (123) continued to top the ODI team rankings, followed by South Africa (117) and England (116). Interestingly, Afghanistan have overtaken Zimbabwe in the ODI Rankings. Afghanistan have gained four points to take the 10th position with 55 points while Zimbabwe have lost three to lie on 50 points.