Kohli, Rohit end 2019 at top

Dubai : India skipper Virat Kohli and opener Rohit Sharma ended the year on a glorious note after remaining static at the first and second position in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen. While Kohli has 887 points to his name, Rohit followed him with 873 points.

Rohit Sharma amassed 2,442 runs across formats in 2019. The dashing Mumbai batsman also surpassed Sri Lankan great Sanath Jayasuriya's 22-year-old record for most runs as an opener in a calendar year across formats.

Earlier on Sunday, Rohit was also named Man of the Series as India chased down 316 to win the three-match ODI rubber against the West Indies 2-1 in Cuttack as the opener contributed with a valiant 63-run knock.

"What a way to finish the year. I'll take most of that year what we did as a team and personally too. Thankful to all fans of the game for getting behind the team and supporting.

Now time to get ready for the next set of duties," Rohit tweeted on Monday.

Apart from ending the World Cup 2019 as the highest run-scorer, Rohit seemed to have finally found his footing in Test cricket.

Opening the batting for India for the first time in the longest format of the game in the series against South Africa earlier in the year, Rohit had smashed 529 runs in four innings.

"Extremely grateful for the year I've had. A World Cup victory would have been nice, but as a team, throughout the year, whether red ball or white ball cricket, we came together really well.

Personally I've enjoyed batting, but there's no way I'm stopping. There's an exciting year coming up," Rohit had said after the match on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Windies opener Shai Hope also entered the top 10 of the rankings after showing fine form in the three-match series against India.

The wicketkeeper-batsman gained five places to reach ninth position after scoring 222 runs in the series including an unbeaten 102 in the opening match in Chennai, which his side won before going down in Visakhapatnam and Cuttack.

Hope's teammate Shimron Hetmyer jumped six places to be at the 19th spot while Nicholas Pooran vaulted 33 places to be at the 30th position in the rankings.