Rohit Sharma’s Journey to become the number 1 ODI Batter

India’s star, Rohit Sharma, claimed the top spot in the ODI ranking for the first time in the history of his ODI career. Rohit Sharma has played the ODI series 2025 against Australia, consisting of three ODIs in Australian conditions. The star batter smashed the 33rd ODI century of his career in the last game against Australia to claim the number 1 ICC ODI ranking. Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten in this game at Sydney and damaged the Aussies with 121 runs including 13 fours and 3 sixes. The star opener led his side for a successful chase along with the legendary Indian batter Virat Kohli. Rohit Sharma moved two spots up in the ICC ODI batting rankings after his stunning knock in the last game. India lost the IND vs AUS ODI series 2025 2-1 after the losses in the first two contests. This article will cover the key highlights of Rohit Sharma’s journey to become the number 1 ODI batter.

Rohit Sharma has remained top ten ranked ODI batter for over a decade for India. His 73 in the 2nd ODI and 121 in the last game against Australia jumped his ratings from 741 to 781, and took him to the top. The century in the last game took him past the Afghanistan star, Ibrahim Zardan and Shubman Gill. He is now the only batter to hold the number 1 ODI batting ranking at the age of 38. Previously, Rohit achieved the career best rating points of 882 in ODIs after his record of 5 centuries in the ICC World Cup 2019.

Rohit’s successful tour of Australia

This was a successful ODI tour for Rohit Sharma but not for his team. He ended the series on the batting tough Australian pitches with top scorer as bagged 202 runs. The star opener has made a dominant comeback in ODI cricket after seven months.

First ODI = 08 runs at Perth 

Second ODI = 73 runs at Adelaide Oval

Third ODI = 121 runs at Sydney

Rohit Sharma Stats in ODIs

Matches: 276

Innings: 268

Runs: 11370

Average: 49.22

Fifties: 59

Hundreds: 33

Rohit: 5th Indian No.1 ODI Batter

After achieving the milestone of no.1 ODI batter, Rohit Sharma has joined the elite club of great Indian batters. Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill had remained previously top-ranked ICC batters from India. Rohit Sharma etched his name as the fifth Indian no.1 ICC ODI batter after a successful Australian tour. This achievement reminds the consistency and longevity of the 38-year-old Rohit Sharma in the international cricket. His dominating attacks over the bowlers will always be the part of the history in the cricket.

Rohit’s Milestones during Australian Tour

• Became the highest run-scorer as an opener among Indian batters across all formats
• Equaled the record of Tendulkar for most centuries (45) as an opener
• Equaled the record of Tendulkar for most hundreds against Australia (9)
• Became 2nd oldest Indian batter to smash a century after Tendulkar

Also Read: Key Players’ Analysis of India vs Australia T20I series 2025

ICC ODI Batting Rankings

1. Rohit Sharma-India (781)
2. Ibrahim Zardan-Afghanistan (764)
3. Shubman Gill-India (745)
4. Babar Azam-Pakistan (739)
5. Daryl Mitchell-New Zealand (734)
6. Virat Kohli-India (725)

Rohit Sharma took 18 years to become the number one ODI batter since his debut in 2007 against Ireland. He is one of the most consistent ODI batter in the history of cricket then why he take 18 years to become no.1. The reason is one of the greatest ODI batter in international cricket, Virat Kohli.

Rohit Sharma’s record in ODI cricket till 2012 was quite modest after his debut. At that time, he played 86 ODIs and made just 1978 runs with 30.43 average and ranked 56 in ICC rankings. He opened the innings for India in ODIs from 2013, and that was the turning point of his career.

How Rohit Sharma became world number one in ODIs

2013: A bumper year for Rohit

Rohit Sharma got a performance boost as an opener in the ODIs during 2013. He made 1196 runs averaging 52 in that year that were enough to move him up to 18th rank.

Rohit’s ODI Rankings Record

• 2013-18
• 2014-19
• 2015-13
• 2016-9
• 2017-5
• 2018-2
• 2019-2
• 2020-2
• 2021-3
• 2022-9
• 2023-4
• 2024-2

Virat Kohli was the biggest hurdle for Rohit to become the number 1 ODI batter during his career.

Virat Kohli performance (2016-2021)

The second highest run-getter, Virat Kohli had gathered 5000 runs in 82 innings with a stunning 75.1 average in that format of cricket from 2016-2021. The star batter had a strong grip over the top spot in ODI ranking during that period due to this stunning performance.

India had played just 14 ODIs from 2020 to 2022 that affected the performance of Virat Kohli, and he slipped from the top. Babar Azam, Pakistan’s star batter ruled the top spot in ICC ODI rankings in that period. Due to this, Kohli moved to second and Rohit for third in ODI rankings.

Also Read: Australia clinched the ODI series 2025 against India

Shubman Gill consistent performances in ODIs dethroned Pakistani star, Babar Azam from the top position. After the Champions Trophy 2025, Gill was on the top of the ODIs ranking, and Rohit third while Kohli was at fifth position. They entered Australia with these ranking positions for the IND vs AUS ODI series 2025.

Kohli got out for ducks in the first two games against Australia before a fifty in the third contest. It was the first time that Kohli record two ducks in his ODI cricket career. While Rohit smashed a fifty in the second game and a stunning hundred in the third winning game. Shubman Gill had made just 43 runs in these contests against Australia as a captain. Rohit has become the number one ODI batter for the first time in 18 years after this stunning tour of Australia.