Virat Kohli will again become the number one batsman, Rohit Sharma will suffer in ICC rankings.
Desk. The Indian Cricket Team has made a great start to the year 2026. India has taken the lead in the series by winning the first ODI match played between India and New Zealand on January 11 in Vadodara by four wickets. There are still two matches left. Meanwhile, there is a possibility of a major upset before the second match of the series. Former Team India captain Virat Kohli can once again be at number one in the ICC ODI rankings, while Rohit Sharma is likely to suffer a huge loss. This will be approved only when the rankings are released and not by the ICC.
The ICC rankings were last updated on 6 December 2025. There was no ODI match after this, so there was no need for any change in it. But now the first ODI match of the new year has taken place, which means there will be a change in the ranking and rating. ICC will also have to release it. When the rankings were last updated, Rohit Sharma was occupying the number one position in ODIs. His rating was 781 and Virat Kohli was seen at second place with a rating of 773.
Meanwhile, when the teams of India and New Zealand came face to face in the first ODI match of the year 2026, Rohit Sharma in his explosive style scored 26 runs on 29 balls. This included three fours and two sixes. That means he got the start, but he could not convert it into a big innings. If we talk about Virat Kohli, he missed a century, but even then he scored a lot of runs.
Virat Kohli played a brilliant inning of 93 runs on 91 balls in the first match of the ODI series against New Zealand, but he missed the century by seven runs. Kohli managed to hit eight fours and one six. The first thing is that while Rohit Sharma’s strike rate was 89.66, Virat Kohli scored runs at a strike rate of 102.20. Also, Kohli scored many more runs than Rohit.
If we look at the old rankings, we find that there was a difference of only eight rating points between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. This time when the rankings will come, it will be eliminated and Virat Kohli can achieve success in achieving a rating close to 800. Meanwhile, in the previous ranking, Daryl Mitchell was at third place, whose rating was 766. In the match played on January 11, Daryl Mitchell played an inning of 84 runs on 71 balls. That is, if everything goes well, then Daryl Mitchell may come at number two in the rankings and Rohit Sharma may have to go at number three.
The second match of the series between India and New Zealand will be played on Wednesday, January 14. That means the match is to be played on the same day when the rankings will be updated by ICC. Runs from the second match will not be included in this ranking. Now it remains to be seen what will be the change in the rankings on Wednesday and what will be the performance of both the players when they enter the field again.
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