He may have missed out on his 54th ODI hundred during the opening game of the three-match series against New Zealand on Sunday (January 11) but Virat Kohli is on the verge of reclaiming one of his major milestones in ODI cricket. If the 37-year-old continues with his staggering recent form, he could displace teammate Rohit Sharma to become the no.1 ranked batter in ICC ODI rankings yet again.
Prior to the start of the current India-New Zealand ODI series, Kohli sat at second spot with 773 points, only eight adrift of Rohit who currently holds the no.1 spot with 781 points. Meanwhile, New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell (766) is at third spot and the other realistic candidate to reach the no.1 spot apart from Kohli.
In the first ODI at Vadodara, Mitchell top-scored for the Black Caps with a fluent knock of 84 while Kohli did the same for India with a sublime innings of 93. Incidently, Rohit couldn't convert his start and departed after stroking 26 off 29 deliveries. If the 38-year-old endures another failure in the series, he is more than likely to lose out on the no.1 ranking.
In fact, another fifty-plus innings for Kohli should virtually see him overtake Rohit, if the innings at Vadodara already hasn't. Generally, ICC rankings are seldom updated midway through a series although there were instances of this in December during the India-South Africa series.
Sources indicate a possible update on Wednesday (January 14) and if that happens, Kohli could possibly be ranked no.1 yet again in the 50-over format. India's ODI no.3 has already held this coveted spot in the past and that too for a considerable period of time. At a time when his international career was starting to be written off, Kohli is seemingly regaining his peak form in ODI cricket.
The second ODI of the series is scheduled on January 14 in Rajkot while the final game is in Indore on January 18. India lead the series 1-0 after their four-wicket win in the opening fixture.