Rohit Sharma dropped down to second place after a brief reign at the top with New Zealander Daryl Mitchell dislodging him in the ICC ODI batters’ rankings issued on Wednesday.
Mitchell became the second New Zealander to hold the No.1 spot for ODI batters on the back of an excellent century against the West Indies.
He scored his seventh ODI century during the opening game in the series against the Caribbean side, and that proved enough for the in-form right-hander to overtake Rohit at the top and claim the premier position for the first time in his career.
Mitchell currently has 782 rating points, one more than Rohit, whose reign at the top spot lasted around three weeks.
It means Mitchell is now just the second player from New Zealand to hold the top ranking for ODI batters, joining Kiwi great Glenn Turner who previously held the spot back in 1979.
Fellow New Zealanders Martin Crowe, Andrew Jones, Roger Twose, Nathan Astle, Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, and Ross Taylor all spent time inside the top five of the ODI batter rankings during their illustrious careers, but only Turner and now Mitchell have ever held the No.1 spot.
Ibrahim Zadran of Afghanistan also dropped down one place to third while Shubman Gill (4th), Virat Kohli (5th) and Shreyas Iyer (8th) are in top-10.
There were also big gains for a host of Pakistan players following their ODI series against Sri Lanka, with Mohammad Rizwan (up five places to equal 22nd) and Fakhar Zaman (up five rungs to equal 26th) making eye-catching improvements on the list for ODI batters.
Pakistan registered an impressive 3-0 series sweep during the three-match rubber against their Asian rival, with spinner Abrar Ahmed (up 11 places to ninth) and pacer Haris Rauf (up five spots to 23rd) being the big winners on the latest rankings for ODI bowlers that are still led by Afghanistan tweaker Rashid Khan.
