Daryl Mitchell has created history for New Zealand cricket by climbing to the No.1 position in the ICC ODI batting rankings. He pushed India’s former captain Rohit Sharma down to second place. This is a special milestone for Mitchell because it is only the second time someone from New Zealand has reached the top spot since Glenn Turner in 1979.
Mitchell reached this position after his brilliant century against West Indies in the ongoing ODI series on Sunday. That knock was his seventh ODI hundred and helped him make a major jump in the rankings. Unfortunately, he got injured during the same innings and has been ruled out for the rest of the three-match series.
Several New Zealand greats like Martin Crowe, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor have come close to the top and reached the top five, but none of them managed to reach No.1 in ODIs.
Meanwhile, the other rankings also saw some big shifts. South Africa Test captain Temba Bavuma has entered the top five in Test batting after his half-century against India in the first Test at Eden Gardens. India’s captain Shubman Gill is not in the top 10 due to his injury, while Joe Root continues to lead the Test rankings.
Among bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah remains the top-ranked bowler in Tests. Matt Henry and Noman Ali are in second and third place. Abrar Ahmed jumped 11 spots to reach No. 9 after a strong ODI series against Sri Lanka.
In ODIs, India has four batters in the top 10 of the ODI rankings — Rohit (2nd), Gill (4th), Virat Kohli (5th) and Shreyas Iyer (8th).
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