Here, at the early point of the year, one strong week can see you shoot up the table; taking you from a nowhere man to a challenger. Shubman Gill has had one of those weeks. And he is capable of them. Last year he bagged Cricketer of the Week twice out of nowhere, whilst the likes of Jos Buttler and Kane Williamson ended with none. One of the biggest criticism is his lack of consistency; at times he can look like a world beater but at other times he looks just a jot above average. Before this week he averaged 26.2 with the bat across four matches in 2020 - three against New Zealand A and one Ranji Trophy game. His form was tepid - and it was telling that when Rohit Sharma got injured his name was not even in the frame for a call up despite the fact that it was evident that the replacement was bound to come from the India A team. It was only early February and Gill was already in 17th position - one place off bottom, a placing he was used to throughout 2019. Then he turned his eye to the longest form of the game and got 287 in the first Unofficial Test against New Zealand A and rocketed up the table with his highest ever score since we have been tracking his performances. He now finds his way into the top ten for the first time ever and there is another Test being played as we speak. The problem is Gill struggles to keep his foot on the accelerator. In order to be a major player in this list and in world cricket he needs to eradicate this lack of consistency from his game and be a more ruthless figure. Only time will tell.
Why it happens we will never know, but for the last three years of monitoring the top players in the world Virat Kohli and Joe Root just won't leave each other alone. Week after week and month after month we see the captains of India and England sandwiched together, most often in the overall list but also in the weekly list. This week they both end up in the top five with Root finishing second and Kohli in fifth. On the overall list it is a similar picture with Root in third and Kohli 60 points behind him in 4th. It is not just in point accumulation that these two players are similar. Both seem to be able to grind out a good amount of points very regularly whilst looking unassuming. This week Joe Root got 91 in a warm up match and 17 in the first ODI against South Africa whilst Kohli got 51 and 15 in two ODIs against New Zealand. Solid but not electric - but the two still regularly pick up three figure scores and end in the weekly top five through their consistency. So far this year only three players have scored 100 in four weeks or more: Kohli, Root and Martin Guptill. In the same way as I criticise Gill for not being able to produce Week in Week out, I must laud Kohli and Root for their consistently decent performances.
Keshav Maharaj is one of the most unknown prospects on this year's list. He is the latest in a long list of South African bowlers that we have kept our eye on over the course of these posts. Obviously the most successful was Simon Harmer but last year's inclusion of Duanne Olivier and Morne Morkel proved a little far off the mark. Already in 2020, Maharaj has had some decent performances (a five wicket haul against England for instance) but also some weeks where he has been inactive including missing the final Test. This week he had another decent outing in a different form of the game - getting 143 points and finishing fourth for the week thanks to two Momentum One Day Cup games for the Dolphins. Despite some strong performances, Maharaj has yet to breech the top ten, reaching a high of eleventh the week before last and then returning there this week. Maharaj is undoubtably a talent but he needs to be playing regularly. He could rack up a decent amount of points during the One Day Cup but that could be it for him until he links up with Yorkshire in the County Championship. This being said, with South Africa's next Test series not until July there could be a long spell away from the action for the spinner. The dynamic (semi) all rounder needs to score big whilst the sun shines for fear he may end up as another Saffer damp squib.
Week
Shubman Gill - 377
Joe Root - 188
Martin Guptill- 153
Keshav Maharaj- 143
Virat Kohli- 116
Rohit Sharma- 100
Lewis Gregory - 75
Steve Smith - 61
Tom Banton- 51
Glenn Maxwell - 49
Peter Handscomb - 26
Kyle Abbott - dnp
Colin Ackermann - dnp
Babar Azam- dnp
Aaron Finch- dnp
Simon Harmer - dnp
Travis Head - dnp
Jason Holder - dnp
Marnus Labuschagne- dnp
Mohammad Nabi - dnp
Ben Stokes - dnp
David Warner - dnp
Overall
Ben Stokes - 809
Martin Guptill - 781
Joe Root - 760
Virat Kohli - 700
Steve Smith - 662
Glenn Maxwell - 650
Marnus Labuschagne - 649
Mohammad Nabi - 590
Shubman Gill - 568
Aaron Finch - 558
Keshav Maharaj - 530
Rohit Sharma - 471
Travis Head - 458
David Warner - 392
Tom Banton - 327
Lewis Gregory - 281
Peter Handscomb - 239
Babar Azam - 116
