Rohit Sharma becomes oldest batter to top ODI Rankings, reaches milestone for first time dethroning Shubman Gill

Rohit Sharma became the oldest batter to reach the top of ICC ODI Rankings for batters after the latest list was published by the International Cricket Council on Wednesday. It was the first time Rohit achieved the feat since making his ODI debut in 2007 against Ireland. The former India captain is currently aged at 38 years and 182 days.

Previously, the oldest batter to top ODI Rankings for batters was legendary Sachin Tendulkar, when he reached the top of the list in 2011 in Test format at the age of 38. In the process, Rohit dethroned his teammates and current captain Shubman Gill.

Rohit was rewarded for his heroics with his bat against Australia in the recently-concluded ODI series. Returning to Indian team after more than more than seven months, Rohit scored 202 runs which included a half-century and hundred. In the final ODI, Rohit was unbeaten on 121.

Rohit, who started the ODI series against Australia at third spot, moved up two places, while Gill dropped a couple of positions to be third. The second spot is occupied by Afghanistan's Ibrahim Zadran while Pakistan's Babar Azam and New Zealand's Daryll Mitchell complete the top five.

Besides Rohit and Gill, two more Indians are a part of the top 10 with Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer taking the sixth and ninth spots respectively. On Wednesday, Rohit gained 36 rating points to go from 741 to 781. The highest rating points Rohit achieved was 882 for a no.2 spot during the 2019 World Cup, where he created a record by scoring five centuries.

After the ODI series, Rohit has returned to India along with several other players who were selected for the ODIs only. He will have close to a month to prepare himself for the South Africa ODI series next month. Rohit have already retired from T20Is and Tests.