Top 10 ODI Batsmen of 2015

During the 2015 World Cup, in the match against West Indies, de Villiers scored 162 runs off 66 balls leading South Africa to their second highest total in world cup history (408) on the Sydney Cricket Ground. With this feat, he also became the record holder for the fastest 50, 100, and 150 in ODI history. He amassed 482 runs in the tournament and was the third highest run-scorer.

He carried his great form into the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under, in which he smashed four hundreds in four Test matches. When Dhoni was injured for the first Test, Kohli led India in his absence and then was named India's next Test captain, after Dhoni decided to quit the Test match format after the Melbourne Test. Kohli became the first player to notch up three successive hundreds as a Test captain. He scored twin hundreds on captaincy debut in Adelaide before the ton at the SCG. He scored the most runs by any visiting Indian batsman in Australia and ended the series with 692 runs. His great show has silenced the critics, who called for his exclusion from the Test team, after the poor show in England. With Kohli being in red-hot form, undoubtedly, he holds the key for India, if they are to be successful at the 2015 World Cup.

Before the World Cup began, Williamson had amassed over 700 runs in 2015. However, he could only manage 234 runs in the entire tournament. He scored a decent fifty in the opener against Sri Lanka and an unbeaten 45 against Australia but was ineffective, overall.

On January 23, 2015, Dilshan scored his 20th ODI ton and became the second highest century maker for Sri Lanka. He is also the 10th batsman overall to achieve this landmark.

With him becoming the fastest to score 5,000 ODI runs, in just 101 innings, breaking Virat Kohli's (114 innings) record, there is no doubt that Amla will play a big role in South Africa's 2015 World Cup campaign.

Amla's immense concentration skills and his never ending thirst for runs has ensured that he is the natural successor to the big scoring Jacques Kallis in the South African line-up. A calm and a down to earth person, Amla shies away from the limelight and is known to be an intensely private person.

Dhoni successfully led India to the 2015 World Cup semifinal, where they lost against Australia, effectively ending India's 11 match winning streak in World Cups. During the course of the tournament, he also became the first Indian captain and third overall to win 100 ODI matches.

His Test reputation having taken a serious beating over the Australian summer, Shikhar Dhawan was in a race against time to win back his form in the 2015 World Cup. The pace and bounce of the Australian pitches appeared to have undone Dhawan, but he struck form at the right time for India, scoring 412 runs with the help of two centuries and a fifty, the pick of them being his 137 against South Africa in Melbourne, where he cut and pulled Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell with aplomb. Dhawan and Rohit Sharma's opening combination was the basis on which India posted strong totals and chased down some with ease, and the Delhi left-hander looked the most comfortable in the semi-finals against Australia as well.

Just before the World Cup, Taylor again gave a glimpse of his ability to accrue big scores, with a timely innings of 96 against Sri Lanka in the sixth ODI in Dunedin. New Zealand definitely would bank upon Taylor's experience to do well in the 2015 World Cup.

Taylor has also done well for various franchises in the T20 format. He has already played for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, Pune Warriors, Rajasthan Royals and Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel.

Maxwell scored 324 runs in the World Cup, which included a ton and two fifties. His century came against Sri Lanka in the quarter-final, a knock that earned him the Man of the Match award. It was also his maiden ton in ODIs.

AB de Villiers could have kept wickets, but he preferred having de Kock as the frontline wicketkeeper-batsman in the team for the 2015 World Cup. The skipper had the confidence in the youngster backed him despite his repeated failures. While the 22-year-old did fire in the knock-out game against Sri Lanka scoring an unbeaten 78, his overall performance left a lot to be desired.