Smith and Kohli reigned supreme in 2017 rankings

Steve Smith continued his reign in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen for a second year running, finishing the calendar year 2017 with the second highest ever rating after the legendary Don Bradman.

Smith’s tally of 947 points kept him 54 points ahead of Virat Kohli at the end of a year which saw the Australia captain aggregate 1,305 runs with six centuries. His India counterpart Kohli, however, kept a steady hold on the ODI number one ranking for most of the latter part of the year even though his year-end aggregate was only four points more than second-placed AB de Villiers.

Unlike in Tests, the top position in ODIs was fiercely contested for, with as many as 12 changes between Kohli, de Villiers and David Warner. Kohli led for 190 days in this format while his hold at the top in T20I rankings was virtually right through. He was top-ranked for 358 days in the shortest format, only losing the spot to Aaron Finch towards the end as Kohli missed a three-match home series against Sri Lanka when he got married.

Those rising rapidly in  Tests in 2017 were India opener Lokesh Rahul (49th to 12th), Windies middle-order batsman Shai Hope (107th to 34th) and South Africa left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj (59th to 16th).

Ravichandran Ashwin started the year at the top among bowlers in Tests but it was his spin-twin Ravindra Jadeja who ruled for the longest period (187 days) while England pace bowler James Anderson (115 days) finished the year on top. Ashwin and Jadeja were also briefly jointly-top ranked.

In ODI bowling, New Zealand pace bowler Trent Boult started the year on top and Pakistan’s Hasan Ali finished in that position but it were Imran Tahir and Josh Hazlewood who led for most of the time. In T20Is, Tahir, India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Imad Wasim, topped at different points in time.

Hasan rose meteorically in ODIs from 75th place to first position during the year. Bumrah (48th to third) and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan (38th to eighth) also rose swiftly on the table.

Among all-rounders, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan was the runaway leader across formats with Ashwin-Jadeja in Tests, Mohammad Hafeez in ODIs and Glen Maxwell in T20Is snatching the baton from him at different points in time.

In the women’s rankings, Meg Lanning of Australia and Marizanne Kapp of South Africa led for most of the time in ODI batting and bowling, respectively, even though India captain Mithali Raj regained the top ODI ranking for batters by the end of the year. Windies skipper Stafanie Taylor and Australia’s Ellyse Perry prevailed in the all-rounders’ rankings in 2017.

In T20Is, Taylor topped the batters’ list through the year while also prevailing among all-rounders for the most part (240 days). Her compatriot Hayley Matthews and Perry were also at the top for significant periods of time. Anya Shrubsole was the top-ranked bowler – for 242 days- with Matthews at the highest for 71 days.