Rohit Sharma climbs to fifth in ICC rankings

Bengaluru, October 2: India opener Rohit Sharma moved up four places to reach fifth position in the ICC ODI Player Rankings after finishing as the leading scorer in the home series against Australia.

Sharma's 296 runs in the series, which included a 125 in the last match in Nagpur, contributed significantly to India's convincing victory over the World champions that helped the home side grab the No 1 position in the ICC ODI Team Rankings.

Sharma is now on a career-best 790 rating points but his highest ranking has been third, which he attained in February 2016.

Sharma's opening partner Ajinkya Rahane moved up four places to reach 24th while Australia's opening pair of Aaron Finch and David Warner have proved more prolific.

Finch has gained nine slots to reach 17th while Warner has closed in on No 1 ranked Virat Kohli, bridging the pre-series gap of 26 points to just 12 points as he has moved to 865 points.

Other batsmen moving up include Kedhar Jadhav (up eight places to a career-best 36th), Marcus Stoinis of Australia (up 74 places to 54th), Jason Roy (up seven places to 30th), Jonny Bairstow (up 48 places to 40th) and Moeen Ali (up 18 places to 56th) of England, and the Windies pair of Jason Holder (up 11 places to 73rd) and Evin Lewis (up 31 places to 78th).

In the rankings for bowlers, South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahir has regained the top spot after Australia pace bowler Josh Hazlewood missed the India series due to a side strain and lost 18 points in the process. Tahir is now four points ahead of Hazlewood at 718 points.

In the list of all-rounders led by Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan, England's Ben Stokes has moved into the top five.