NEW DELHI: A red-hot Daryl Mitchell outclassed Indian batting icon Virat Kohli to regain his number 1 ranking in the ICC ODI Rankings issued on Wednesday, just a week after ‘King Kohli’ had taken back his crown for the first time since 2021.
On the back of some impressive batting performances spanning from the Australia tour to the New Zealand ODI series at home put Virat at the top after over four years, but Mitchell, who registered back-to-back centuries to seal Kiwis’ first-ever ODI series win in India and became the ‘Player of the Series’ with 352 runs in three matches, removed Virat from the top of the charts with two centuries he would cherish for a lifetime.
Virat was the second-highest run-getter in the series, with 240 runs, including 93 in the first ODI and a valiant 124 in 108 balls in Indore during a tough run chase of 338 runs. While Virat’s efforts throughout the series took fans back to Virat’s days of dominance from 2016-19, it was not enough to give India a series win and him some more time at the top spot.
With 843 rating points, Mitchell clears Virat (795 points), who is dropped to the second spot. The Kiwi would get to hold on to the top ranking for more time, with loads of T20I action coming up, including the T20 World Cup. His previous reign as the number-one was cut short for just three days when he was surpassed by Rohit during November following a ‘Player of the Series’ effort in Australia, which produced 202 runs, including 121* at Sydney.