After the recently concluded ICC Men’s Champions Trophy-winning campaign, India skipper Rohit Sharma moved up to third place in the ODI batting rankings chart, led by fellow opener Shubman Gill.
India lifted their third Champions Trophy title with a thrilling four-wicket victory over New Zealand in Dubai, star performers from both teams have been rewarded in the rankings update released on Wednesday.
Gill also been named ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for February 2025. The 25-year-old outshone Australia’s Steve Smith and New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips to claim the honour.
Gill’s amassed 406 runs in just five ODIs over the course of the month, averaging 101.50 at a strike rate of 94.19. This included his stellar outing in the 3-0 series win over England, where he registered three consecutive scores of over fifty.
The right-hander began with a fluent 87 in Nagpur, followed it up with a composed 60 in Cuttack, and capped it off in grand fashion with a masterful 112 off 102 balls in Ahmedabad. His innings earned him the Player of the Match award as well as the Player of the Series honour.
Continuing his golden run into the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Gill hit an unbeaten 101 to lead India’s chase in their tournament opener against Bangladesh in Dubai. He followed it up with a resolute 46 against Pakistan.
This is the third ICC Men’s Player of the Month honour for Gill, who had previously won twice in 2023 — January and September.
“I am elated to win the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for February. Nothing gives me more motivation than performing with the bat and winning matches for my country,” Gill said in a statement.
Rohit, who smashed a match-winning 76 off 83 balls in the final, jumped two places to third. For his impressive performance in the final, Rohit was awarded the Player of the Match trophy. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli, who amassed 218 runs in the tournament, remains in the top five (fifth place) following his haul of 218 runs in the tournament.
New Zealand’s batters also made notable progress. Daryl Mitchell moves up one place to sixth, while young sensation Rachin Ravindra climbs an impressive 14 spots to 14th. Glenn Phillips also makes a leap, advancing six places to 24th.
New Zealand’s skipper Mitchell Santner was one of the standout performers with the ball, taking nine wickets in the tournament, including two in the final. His efforts see him jump six places to No.2 in the ODI bowling rankings, just behind Sri Lanka’s Maheesh Theekshana. Fellow Kiwi Michael Bracewell also made a significant gain, moving 10 places up to 18th.
India’s spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja saw their rankings improve after their key contributions in India’s unbeaten campaign. Kuldeep, who picked up seven wickets, climb to No.3, while Jadeja moved up to 10th after claiming five wickets.
Ponting opines on Rohit’s future: Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting believes that Rohit not looking to retire from ODIs means he has a specific goal of playing the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup.
There were rumours doing the rounds of Rohit retiring from ODIs just the way he called it quits from the T20I format after winning the World Cup in Barbados last year.
But the skipper quashed all those talks after winning the Champions Trophy. “When you start getting to that point of your career, everyone’s waiting for you to retire.”
“And I don’t know why, when you can still play as well as he’s played (in the final), I think he was just trying to put those questions to bed once and for all and say, ‘no, I’m still playing well enough. I love playing in this team. I love leading this team.
“And I think, the fact that he said that, to me, it means that he must have that goal in mind of playing in the next (50-over) World Cup (in 2027),” said Ponting on The ICC Review show.
Ponting believes that a sense of unfinished business may have to do with Rohit’s decision to stay at the helm of the Indian team until the 2027 ODI World Cup, to be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Indo-Asian News Service
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