Hussey replaces Dhoni as No.1 ODI batsman

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s reign at the top of ICC ODI batsmen chart for more than a year ended with Australian Michael Hussey toppling him in the rankings issued, on Monday.

Dhoni, who held the top spot since January 2009, however, will have an opportunity to regain the coveted number-one position when he leads India in the three-match ODI series against South Africa later this month as his rating of 822 is just three points adrift of Hussey.

The Indian captain, who scored 184 runs from four innings with one hundred at an 61.33 in the tri-series in Bangladesh last month, first achieved the top spot in April 2006.

Hussey scored 220 runs at an average of 73.33 against Pakistan in the five-match ODI series which ended, on Sunday, in Perth, which not only helped his team make a clean sweep of the series but also put him ahead of MS Dhoni.

Sachin Tendulkar, who skipped the tri-series in Bangladesh, climbed one spot to figure seventh with 723 points, sitting above Australian captain Ricky Ponting (718), who lost four places.

Opener Virender Sehwag is the third Indian in the top 10 remaining unchanged at ninth with 702 points.

Yuvraj Singh (12th), Gautam Gambhir (19th) and Suresh Raina (20th) also retained their respective positions in the top 20. Bangladesh tri-series top-scorer Virat Kohli was 21st.

Among the bowlers, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh retained his sixth position with 655 points. He is the only Indian in the top 10 in the chart headed by New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori.

Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan was the second highest ranked Indian at 21st spot. Meanwhile, India retained the second spot in the ODI team chart at 121 rating points, 12 adrift of leaders Australia who beat Pakistan 5-0 in the series concluded on Sunday.

Australia earned three rating points for winning all the five matches of the Pakistan series.

Yuvraj remained the only Indian in the list of top five all-rounders, which is led by Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.