The cricketing world was surprised when Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were unexpectedly absent from the ICC ODI batting rankings released on Wednesday. The two Indian cricket stars, who had previously held the No. 2 and No. 4 spots, had vanished from the top 100, leaving fans perplexed. The situation immediately led to speculation, with many wondering if this was a planned move or a technical malfunction.
As the duo had retired from Test and T20 formats, they are now solely focused on ODIs. Their last outing was in the ICC Champions Trophy in UAE in February 2025, which India won. Before the rankings were updated, Rohit Sharma was ranked second, trailing Shubman Gill, and Kohli was at fourth. The corrected rankings now reflect Babar Azam in the spot previously held by Rohit Sharma.
The ICC initially offered no explanation for the change, prompting theories of a system error. However, an ICC spokesperson later addressed the issue, confirming that the rankings had been updated due to an error. The error has since been fixed and both Kohli and Sharma have been re-added.