Rohit Sharma surpasses Virat Kohli, on the verge of dethroning Babar Azam as World No.1 ODI batsman

India's Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma has moved closer to Pakistan's white-ball skipper Babar Azam in the latest ICC Men's ODI Batting Rankings. Rohit is currently behind Babar Azam and Shubman Gill on the list.

Rohit Sharma is in fantastic form with the bat currently and has scored two fifties in two ODIs so far. The 37-year-old is fighting a lone battle for India with the bat with the rest of the batters struggling to find their feet against Sri Lankan spinners.

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Rohit Sharma moves closer to Babar Azam in ICC ODI Batting Rankings

Rohit scored 58 off 47 balls in the first ODI with 7 fours and 3 sixes. In the second ODI, the 37-year-old looked in even better touch and scored a blistering 64 off 44 balls, which included 5 fours and 4 sixes.

In both the matches, Rohit has batted with a healthy strike rate as well. His six-hitting ability was at his best in the powerplay. He has looked at ease against both pacers and spinners. The right-hander has got out trying to score runs quickly in both games.

Rohit has carried on from where he left at the T20 World Cup 2024 almost a month ago. He has scored 122 runs in the first two ODIs of the ongoing series at an average of 61 and a strike rate of 134.06.

With these knocks, Rohit's overall rating in the ICC ODI Batting Rankings has jumped up to 763 rating points. He is just 61 ratings behind Babar Azam, who is the No. 1 on this list with 824 rating points. Rohit Sharma is third in this list.

Shubman Gill keeps his second spot despite Rohit Sharma closing in

Meanwhile, India's vice-captain in ODIs and T20Is Shubman Gill keeps his spot in second place in the rankings. Gill has scored just 51 runs across two matches and has struggled against spin. He has 782 rating points to his name and is 21 rating points ahead of Rohit Sharma.

Allrounder Axar Patel too has seen improvement in his rankings. Axar has scored 77 runs across two ODIs against Sri Lanka and has looked in great form with the bat. He has moved up 35 places to 178th in the updated ODI rankings for batters.

Sri Lanka players also gain in ODI Rankings

Sri Lanka has had a fantastic ODI series so far. They have stunned India with their performance in the first two games. As a result, their players have also improved their rankings. Allrounder Janith Lyanage has gained ten spots on this list of ODI batting rankings to move up to 76th in this list while Avishka Fernando moved up nine places to 88th in the Men's ODI rankings.

The ongoing Sri Lanka-India ODI series has been a series for the bowlers, especially the spinners. As a result, the bowlers have received a huge jump in the rankings. Kuldeep Yadav moved up five places to move up to the 4th position in the Men's ODI Bowling rankings. Kuldeep has picked up 3 wickets in two ODIs at an economy rate of 3.33.

Sri Lanka allrounder Dunith Wellalage received a huge boost as he rose to the 76th spot in the ODI Bowler's rankings. Wellalage bowled beautifully in the first ODI and picked up 2-39. Axar Patel improved 37 places to 96th spot in the ODI bowler's rankings.