A day after India’s 50-overs captain Rohit Sharma was reported to have hit training for the first time since the end of the IPL 2025 season, the 38-year-old Mumbaikar moved closer to the top spot in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ODI batting rankings, vaulting to second place over Pakistan’s Babar Azam.
Despite not featuring in an ODI since smashing a rollicking 76 in the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy against New Zealand in Dubai in March, the star India opener moved up a place behind his young teammate Shubman Gill after Babar’s repetitive failures in the West Indies. The former Pakistan captain only score 56 runs in the recently-concluded three-match ODI series against West Indies. In the series decider on Tuesday, Babar managed only nine runs as Pakistan crumbled in a 295-run chase, bundling for 92.
Besides Rohit and Gill, India possess three other batters in the top 15, with former captain Virat Kohli standing fourth, Shreyas Iyer eighth and wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul ranking 15th.
Latest ICC ODI batting rankings.
Following a largely successful Test tour against England for India under Shubman Gill ending 2-2 recently, reports have circulated on the uncertainty of the future of both Rohit and Kohli in the ODI format. While the two stalwarts had pulled the plug on their T20I careers following the World Cup in the Caribbean last year, Rohit and Kohli both announced their Test retirements within an inteval of few days in May earlier this year.
On Tuesday, just days after Virat Kohli posted a photo of himself after a training session in the UK, Rohit also posted a picture of himself with former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar in the gym. Nayar reposted that with the caption that said: “Let it begin”. Rohit has begun training with Nayar at a suburban Mumbai facility after taking a break of a couple of months from cricket following the IPL, according to PTI.
