India’s star batter Shubman Gill retained the top spot in the latest update of the ICC rankings for men’s ODI batters. In addition, Afghanistan’s rising all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai rose to the top of the all-rounder’s rankings after his phenomenal display at the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Star batter Virat Kohli once again displayed why he is rated so highly in white-ball cricket, more so in big-ticket tournaments, and as the master of run-chases, with his gritty half century helping India beat Australia by four wickets in the high-pressure semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai on Tuesday.
Riding on Virat Kohli's 84, KL Rahul (42 not out) and Hardik Pandya (28 off 24 balls) gave the finishing touches to India's chase of 265 to progress to the final of the eight-team competition.
With the Indian top order of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer firing on all cylinders heading into their semifinal clash against Australia on Tuesday, Aussie skipper Steve Smith hailed his opponent batters’ ability to change gears.
Come Sunday, Virat Kohli will be playing his 300th One-day International match when India take on New Zealand in their final Group A match of the 2025 Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium here on Saturday.
Babar achieved the landmark during his unbeaten knock of 34 off 72 balls in Pakistan's first innings against Sri Lanka during the first Test at Galle International Stadium.
Recently, legendary cricketers such as Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar have been critical of Kohli's performance, with the former saying he should be dropped from the side and the latter indicating that some senior players are getting preferential treatment by being allowed to pick and choose which series they want to play.
Kohli, who was out of the 1st ODI against England with a groin injury, has not been included for the West Indies's T20Is as well. However, BCCI in its official statement hasn't mentioned whether he has been rested or not picked due to injury.
With confidence high after a comprehensive show at The Oval, India will be targeting to seal the series quickly in the second ODI at Lord's on Thursday, just like what they did in the preceding T20I series, which they eventually won 2-1.
Jos Buttler's maximum of 30 was the individual highest from the England side. Buttler was recently appointed as England's new white-ball captain, after England's long-serving captain and 2019 world-cup winning leader.
