Chris Gayle drives against South Africa during their semi-final match in the ICC Champions Trophy in Jaipur on Thursday. Gayle guided the West Indies to a fine victory with an undefeated 133. - Reuters

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC):

West Indies player Chris Gayle is now the world's leading One-Day International all-rounder after moving to the top of the International Cricket Council's rankings released this week.

The 27-year-old, left-hander, who had a superb campaign in the recent ICC Champions Trophy, has leap-frogged South Africa's Shaun Pollock in the top position. It is the first time since 2004 he has reached the top of the all-rounders rankings.

Gayle was the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 474 runs at an average of 79 and a strike rate of 92, and also lashed three centuries against Bangladesh, England and South Africa respectively.

He returned with the ball to capture eight wickets and his all-round performance was one of the main reasons West Indies reached the final against Australia in Mumbai.

Despite West Indies' loss in the final, Gayle did enough to pick up the Man-of-the-Series award.

Gayle is ahead of Pollock, while Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya is in fourth and England's Andrew Flintoff, fifth.

Gayle has also moved into second place in the ODI batting rankings, behind Australian Mike Hussey who remains at number one.

England's Kevin Pietersen is third in the standings, while Australia's Adam Gilchrist is fourth.