Rohit Sharma rises to No. 2 in ICC ODI rankings
Dubai, Aug 14 (PTI): Amid the chatter around his future in international cricket, Indian maestro Rohit Sharma has risen to the number two spot in the latest ICC ODI rankings for batters released on Wednesday.
The 38-year-old Rohit, who has not played any competitive cricket since the 2025 IPL season, dethroned Babar Azam while moving a place up even as the Pakistani slipped to No. 3 after a string of low scores in the recently-concluded ODI series against the West Indies in the Caribbean.
With 756 rating points Rohit sits just behind India's Test captain Shubman Gill (784), who has retained the No. 1 position in the rankings.
Former captain Virat Kohli held the fourth position with 736 points.
Both Rohit and Kohli had announced their retirement from the Test format before the Indian team's tour of England but have expressed their willingness to carry on in the 50-over game.
The two star batters might be seen in action in the three-match ODI series against Australia in October, and have started training to get back in the groove.
One of the all-time greats of the ODI game along with his longtime India teammate Kohli, Rohit attained his career-best ranking points during the 2019 World Cup when he accumulated 882 points after smashing a record-breaking fifth century in the tournament.
Rohit and Kohli last appeared in ODIs during India's victorious Champions Trophy campaign in the UAE earlier this year.
India currently boast five players in the top 15 of the men's ODI batting rankings, with Shreyas Iyer in eighth place and KL Rahul in 15th position.
Australia and South Africa batters make gains
Meanwhile, in-form batters from Australia and South Africa have been the big winners and reached new career-high ratings following the latest update to the T20I rankings.
Tim David is the leading run-scorer across the opening two matches of the T20I series between Australia and South Africa and the hard-hitting right-hander has improved six spots to 10th overall.
Teammate Cameron Green also gained six spots to rise to 17th, while youngster Dewald Brevis is the big winner from a South African perspective following his record-breaking exploits in the second game of the series in Darwin, where he struck a scintillating hundred.
Brevis exploded with a superb innings of 125 as the Proteas squared the three-match series against the Aussies at 1-1 and jumped from outside the top 100 to 21st place.
South African Tristan Stubbs (up 12 spots to 27th) also made some gains for T20I batters, while Josh Hazlewood (up three spots to 20th), Kagiso Rabada (up 15 places to equal 44th) and Lungi Ngidi (up 14 rungs to 50th) are the improvers in the latest rankings for T20I bowlers.
Some New Zealand players also gained on the Test rankings lists after their impressive 2-0 series sweep of Zimbabwe away from home.
Pacer Matt Henry was named Player of the Series for his 16 wickets at an average of 9.12 and the right-armer also received a new career-high rating and improved one place to third overall on the latest rankings for Test bowlers.
Henry's strong series saw him jump ahead of Australia captain Pat Cummins, with No.1 ranked Jasprit Bumrah and second-placed Rabada the only players ahead of him on the updated list for Test bowlers.
A trio of New Zealand players made good ground on the rankings for Test batters, with Rachin Ravindra (up 15 places to 23rd), Devon Conway (up seven spots to 37th) and Henry Nicholls (up six rungs to 47th) rewarded for decent scores in Zimbabwe.
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Junior Hockey World Cup: IndiGo crisis disrupts travel plans of players' families, fans
Chennai (PTI): For Kate, the dream was simple -- to watch her son Fahy Noah play for the Australian team in the Junior Hockey World Cup here and visit the Taj Mahal.
But her plans, like those of many others, have been upended by the operational crisis that has hit IndiGo, India's largest domestic airline.
"I am here for the first time and India is so kind and welcoming. We were hoping to see the Taj Mahal, but with the IndiGo problems, we are a bit scared now," Kate, who has come from Brisbane, told PTI outside the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium here.
"One family went on a rest day and got stuck overnight. I think we will have to cancel all our travel plans now, though seeing the Taj Mahal was on my bucket list for long," she said.
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This is the first time that 24 teams are participating in the Junior Hockey World Cup, being held in Chennai and Madurai from November 28 to December 10. For most players and their families, it is their maiden trip to India. Many NRIs have also flown in to support the Indian team.
However, the widespread flight delays and cancellations have thrown schedules into chaos. IndiGo cancelled thousands of flights last week, citing regulatory changes in the pilots' flight duty and regulations norms. This resulted in lakhs of passengers getting stuck at airports across the country.
Laura, who has come from Belgium with her entire family to support her son, said they are now travelling by road.
"We are happy to be here in this beautiful country. We went to Munnar and Madurai, and now we are planning to go to Puducherry and Mahabalipuram by road," she said.
"We had taken IndiGo flights earlier, but some other families who travelled on different days got stuck and somehow managed to come back by train. So we are not flying anywhere in India now. Road travel only and then back to Brussels next week," she said.
For 87-year-old Kenyan hockey legend Avtar Singh Sohal, a four-time Olympian and a lifelong supporter of Indian hockey, the crisis was particularly distressing. He spent 12 gruelling hours at the Chandigarh airport on December 4 before finally reaching Chennai just in time for the quarterfinals.
"Our IndiGo flight was delayed by 12 hours. We were at the airport from 7 am to 7 pm. They kept giving excuses -- the aircraft has not arrived, the pilot is not available. We had no idea what was actually happening," he said.
Accompanying Sohal was 85-year-old Tarlok Singh Mandair, a former treasurer of the English Hockey Association, who had flown in from London.
"It was a horrible experience. They kept changing the timings from 12 noon to 4 pm and we finally took off at 7:20 pm. They gave us sandwiches which were not even good," Mandair recalled.
"Our return flight is also on IndiGo, but now we are exploring other options," he said.
Jujhar Singh Plaha, 86, from London, who was on the same flight, said his excitement has turned into anxiety.
"We were so excited about this trip; hockey is our first love. But this (IndiGo crisis) spoiled our mood. Now we are worried about returning because at our age, we cannot travel long distances by train or road," he said.
Jason, the father of Australian player Roger Lachlan, has had an eventful trip to India so far -- beginning with the rain in Chennai triggered by Cyclone Ditwah.
"We are from Hobart -- home of Ricky Ponting and David Boon. We arrived after a cyclone, which caused heavy rain. Now the sun is out and we are enjoying ourselves," he said with a smile.
Jason, too, has shelved all further travel plans.
"No sightseeing now. We will just eat, swim and head back. I am loving masala dosa, masala tea and curries," he said.
Some fans from Bengaluru, who had booked their flight tickets months in advance, decided not to take a risk. They opted for refunds and drove down to Chennai on Sunday to catch the semifinal.
"With flight uncertainty and trains full, we drove down. We did not want to miss India in the semis," said Vinod Chinnappa, who drove for six hours to come here.
Even officials have not been spared by the flight disruptions.
Digvijay Singh, an official of the Hockey India League franchise, waited eight hours at the Patna airport to catch a flight to Chennai.
"I did not want to miss the India-Belgium quarterfinal, so I waited. I finished all episodes of (web series) Family Man at the lounge," he said.
"I had gone to Patna from Delhi for a meeting earlier in the day and then needed to connect to Chennai," Singh said.
With the World Cup set to wrap up in two days, uncertainty about people's plans to return home looms large.
With prices of alternative flights rising and train seats nearly impossible to find, fans, officials, families and journalists are monitoring travel apps as closely as match updates.
If the situation does not improve soon, returning home could be as challenging as winning matches on the field.
