Kohli Slips from Top of ODI Rankings After Just One Week

Virat Kohli regained his position at the top of the ICC rankings last week. But with the latest update, he has been pulled down to number two, being replaced by Daryl Mitchell. Despite his century in the third ODI, Mitchell overpowered him to create a huge gap.

The latest update of the ICC rankings has shocked the Indian fans, and it was quite expected. The series between New Zealand and India came out in the favour of the Kiwis. And now the latest ICC rankings update has also come out in the favour of the New Zealand batsman, Daryl Mitchell.

And with things coming out in the favour of Mitchell, it also means that they have not been in the favour of Virat Kohli. He has now been dropped to the second position in the ICC rankings, despite having a great series against New Zealand. India will now be playing its next ODI match against Afghanistan in June, making the fans wait for six months.

1. Mitchell Wins Battle Against Kohli

Daryl Mitchell and Virat Kohli were one of the finest players in the ODI format lately. And fans waited to see what will happen when both of these players will be going against each other. Things got more escalated when Virat Kohli was standing at the top of the ICC rankings and Mitchell stood just behind him at number two.

This happened after the first ODI match between India and New Zealand. Virat Kohli scored 93 while Mitchell scored 84 runs, which gave Kohli the lead. He was able to take the top spot in the ICC rankings with 785 points and Daryl Mitchell stood just behind him with 784 points. This eventually made each match of the series important for them.

Daryl Mitchell in ODI Series:

• Innings: 3
• Not Out: 1
• Runs: 352
• Average: 176
• 100s: 2
• 50s: 1

But in the second game, Kohli fell down cheaply, scoring just 23 runs. On the other hand, Daryl Mitchell remained not out and scored 131 runs to help New Zealand to win the game. Now it seemed almost impossible for Virat Kohli to regain his spot at number one with just one ODI match remaining.

Virat Kohli in ODI Series:

• Innings: 3
• Not Out: 0
• Runs: 240
• Average: 80
• 100s: 1
• 50s: 1

Later in the third ODI, Mitchell brought up another century, scoring 137 runs. Virat Kohli also gave his best to fight back, but he didn't receive support from the other end. Eventually, he got out after scoring 124 runs, giving Mitchell the upper hand in the ICC rankings. And with the new shift, the gap between Kohli and Mitchell stands at 50 points.

2. Indian Batsmen Dominate ODI Rankings

With the new ICC rankings, it can be said that the ODI format is solely being dominated by the Indian batsmen. Virat Kohli has now been dropped to number two in the ICC rankings, but he is still the highest ranked Indian in the same. Following him is the former Indian captain, Rohit Sharma.

Rohit didn't perform well in the ODI series against New Zealand, failing to score runs in all three games. Eventually, he lost some of his rating points following the ODI series and has now been dropped to number four. Ibrahim Zadran has taken over Rohit's place at number three.

Another positive sign for the Indian fans was the comeback of Shubman Gill. The Indian captain was able to bring up consecutive half-centuries for the team. He scored fifties in the first two games, but fell short of scoring runs in the decider. And now, Shubman Gill stands at the fifth spot in the ICC Rankings.

This means all of India's top three ODI batsmen also stand at the top five of the ICC rankings. Shreyas Iyer, who made his comeback from an injury, didn't have a series he expected. Fans thought Iyer would be bringing up a big knock in any one of the three ODI matches, but that didn't happen. He was only able to score 49 runs in the first game, which remained his highest.

Due to this reason, Shreyas Iyer has lost his rating points yet again, which puts him down at the 11th spot. While this comes as a negative sign for the team, a positive sign has been there with the case of KL Rahul. First he helped the Indian team to win their only game in the series by finishing it in his style.

Later in the second ODI, he was able to score a century when all the other batsmen failed. Although his ton came in a losing cause, he remained the reason why India was able to compete well in the 2nd ODI. This has also helped KL Rahul to be a part of the Top 10 in the ICC rankings.