India’s captain Virat Kohli continues to be the top-ranked ODI batsman with 884 points while Rohit was second with 842 rating points in ICC ODI batting rankings.
Rohit Sharma, who led his team to the Asia Cup title in the absence of skipper Virat Kohli, climbed two places up to a career-best second position. Rohit’s opening partner Dhawan, who was highest run-getter with 342 runs, also moved up four slots to attain the fifth rank after ending up as the highest run-getter in the Asia Cup in UAE with 342 runs. Dhawan and Rohit were even given a rest in India’s final Super Four match against Afghanistan but still ended up as the top two run-scorers in the tournament, primarily at the back of a record 210-run partnership in the Super Four match against Pakistan, where Rohit slammed an unbeaten 111 while Dhawan blasted 114 runs.
In the bowler’s list, Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah retained his number one spot but Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who has advanced three places to take a career-best third position after finishing as the joint-highest wicket-taker sharing the honours along with Bangladesh’s fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, made giant strides after a string of good performances in the recently-concluded Asia Cup.
Rashid Khan, who picked up the most wickets in the competition, moved up to No.1 in the all-rounder’s list and held on to his spot behind Bumrah among the bowlers. However, India has gained one point and Afghanistan five. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have lost three points each.
While many hate comments were doing the rounds when the captain took a break from the Asia Cup 2018, what fans need to understand is that we must not make the players overdo it. Indian cricket coach Ravi Shastri said ‘mental fatigue’ was the reason behind resting regular skipper Virat Kohli for the Asia Cup 2018. He said, ‘Virat needed this rest. Physically he is a bull. You can’t give him out of the ground. And the thing with Virat is if he plays, then you know the level of intensity he brings. So it was a case of just mental fatigue, giving him a break, take your mind off cricket and then come back fresh.’ He further added, ‘we will have to do it with a lot of other players. You know like Bumrah, Bhuvi, we have to sustain them and keep them energetic.’
Even Kohli admitted in one of his promotional events, saying, ‘physically I had a few niggles, I am just getting over those. The workload has started to disagree with me a little bit. I have to be very careful about how I go forward with my body, my mind, my cricket. Times like these are very, very important. I am totally enjoying it; I do not even have an inch of me missing out on anything because my body really needed this.’
The Indian captain admires tennis legend Roger Federer for the way he has been going about his business, taking adequate breaks in between and still staying at the top. ‘Roger Federer is my ultimate favourite, just because of the way that belief shows when he plays and it is so beautiful, he has a family now, he has his priorities set and he takes time off the game without worrying about opinion and criticism and then he comes in and wins Grand Slams at 36. He is defying all logic so that is something that I totally love. I hate following the norm, and he is someone breaking all those barriers on a daily basis. I have a huge respect for him,’ Kohli said.
Kohli is all set to return to international cricket, when India takes on West Indies in the first Test, which starts from October 4 in Rajkot. While the fans are really happy with his return as he is the backbone of Indian cricket team, one must also understand that overperforming and overplaying of the players won’t help the team in long run.
