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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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
