MUMBAI – Despite India’s 2-1 series defeat against Australia, Captain Rohit Sharma was a beacon of brilliance, and his performance has been rewarded with a historic achievement: he has claimed the top spot in the ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings for the very first time.
In the latest update from the ICC, Rohit jumped two spots to seize the World No. 1 position with 781 rating points.
The Series that Delivered the Crown
Although India lost the series to Australia, Rohit’s bat spoke volumes in the latter two matches:
• Game 1: A slow start with just 8 runs.
• Game 2: Despite India losing by two wickets, Rohit struck a crucial 73-run innings.
• Game 3 (The Decider): Rohit was the undisputed hero, smashing an unbeaten 121 runs to guide India to a dominant nine-wicket victory. He shared a match-winning 168-run partnership with Virat Kohli and earned the Player of the Match award.
Overall, Rohit accumulated 202 runs in the series, a powerful display that saw him make history by reaching the summit of the ODI rankings.
The young Indian sensation Shubman Gill dropped two places to third with 745 points. Afghanistan’s Ibrahim Zadran holds steady at second (764 points), while Pakistan’s Babar Azam remains in fourth. New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell moved up one spot to fifth.
Tough Return for Kohli
The series marked Virat Kohli’s return to the Indian jersey after a seven-and-a-half-month gap. Despite a difficult start, where the former captain was dismissed for a duck in the first two matches (a bitter first in his long career), he found his form in the final ODI, scoring 74 runs. However, this wasn’t enough to prevent a decline, as he slipped one position to sixth in the rankings.
