Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were briefly removed from the ICC ODI rankings due to a technical glitch, causing panic among fans who speculated about their retirement. The ICC confirmed the error and rectified the rankings.
There is an uncertainty over the future of two Indian batting stalwarts, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, in ODIs, but the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings glitch gave a ‘mini heart attack’ to Indian cricket fans. Kohli and Rohit recently retired from Test cricket before the England tour in May.
Rohit Sharma was the first to call it quits from red-ball cricket after he was sacked from his captaincy following two consecutive Test series defeats against New Zealand and Australia. He had a disastrous outing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, scoring just 31 runs at an average of 6.2 in 5 innings. Just five days after, Virat Kohli stunned the cricket world by announcing his decision to step away from his illustrious Test career after playing for 14 years and 123 matches.
The batting duo has already retired from the T20Is after India’s T20 World Cup triumph last year, and ODI cricket remains the only format at the international level where the two legends continue to feature, with the 2027 ODI World Cup likely to be their swansong.
Rohit, Kohli vanishes briefly from ICC ODI Rankings
Just a few days ago, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli made a jump in their ICC ODI Rankings. The ODI captain climbed to second spot from third position, which is now occupied by Babar Azam, following his poor outings in the recently concluded ODI series against West Indies.
Kohli, on the other hand, is unchanged at the No.4 position in the ODI rankings. However, the two Indian batting stalwarts briefly vanished from the latest ODI Rankings list. As of the 20th August update in the ICC ODI rankings saw Babar Azam returning to the No. 2 spot, while Sri Lanka’s Charith Asalanka was at the No.4 position in the ODI rankings for the batters. Rohit and Kohli were not even in the top 100 of the rankings.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are no longer in the ICC Test and T20I rankings as they have retired from both formats of the game. Once the player is retired from a particular format or all three formats of the game, the ICC automatically removes their name from the rankings table, making them ineligible for ranking points and future updates in that particular format.
In Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s case, neither of them announced retirement from ODIs, despite the uncertainty over their future in the format, and the glitch by the ICC in the ODI rankings caused panic among fans.
Fans go into panic mode after ICC ODI rankings glitch
As soon as the fans noticed that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s names had vanished from the latest ICC Men’s ODI Rankings for the Batters, fans flooded social media with retirement rumours and emotional posts.
Taking to their X handle (formerly Twitter), many fans believed that the two legends of the sport quietly retired from international cricket before the 2027 ODI World Cup, while others felt that their absence from the ODI Rankings hinted at a possible announcement of their ODI retirement soon.
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
Scroll to load tweet…
As per the report by Hindustan Times, a source close to the International Cricket Council confirmed that it was a technical glitch in the rankings, which has been rectified.
“There was an error in our rankings tables today, but it has been rectified,” the official told the Hindustan Times.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are expected to return to international cricket for the three-match ODI series against Australia, starting on October 19. However, their certainty for the ODI World Cup 2027, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, is unlikely at the moment, as the BCCI selectors reportedly wanted them to play the Vijay Hazare Trophy to test their fitness and form to secure their spots in the World Cup squad.