Indian captain Virat Kohli has been named the ‘Leading Cricketer in the World’ for the third time in a row in this year’s edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. Kohli, however, was the sport’s dominant figure in 2018, making 2735 international runs at 68.37 across all formats, more than 700 more than his nearest challenger, England’s Joe Root.

Smriti Mandhana has been named the Leading Cricketer in the women’s game, after racking up 1291 runs across limited-overs formats, including 13 half-centuries, while Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan leg-spinner, is the Leading Twenty-20 Cricketer for the second year in a row.

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack

• Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack (or simply Wisden or colloquially “the Bible of Cricket”) is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom.
• The description “bible of cricket” was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a review for the London Mercury.
• In October 2013, an all-time Test World XI was announced to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
• In 1998, an Australian edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack was launched. It ran for eight editions.
• In 2012, an Indian edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack was launched (dated 2013).