Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket hero, recently endorsed his recent surge in the ICC ODI rankings, vaulting to fourth position while pushing India ODI captain Shubman Gill down the ranking list. The ICC rankings display Kohli’s psychological adherence to the format after posting consistent average performance via a match-winning display in the recent Ranchi ODI.

Kohli’s batting genius has garnered him more rating points, taking him to 751 or just a few points below, New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell (766) and Ibrahim Zadran of Afghanistan (764), occupy second and third positions. The shorter margin of 33 points between Kohli and Sharma suggests that the race for the top spot intensifies.

With India playing their second ODI in Raipur on Thursday, there is a chance that the rankings for batsmen will fluctuate once again. Rohit has managed to score just 14 in the ongoing match, providing Kohli with a perfect opportunity to pose a stronger challenge — maybe even usurping him depending on his form.

In the period of 2018–2021, Virat Kohli held the ODI ranking of top batsman in the world for almost three straight years before Babar Azam from Pakistan knocked him out. From that point onwards, Kohli has been pushing hard to reclaim the throne.

The majority of Kohli’s focus is towards the ODI format while he has already hung up his boots in T20Is and Test cricket, long-term target being the 2027 Cricket World Cup of ODIs. The sustained good phase he has just been going through necessarily makes the return to the spotlight in ODI circuit in the waiting.