Following his awe-inspiring batting in the first Test against England at Edgbaston, India skipper Virat Kohli has jumped past Steve Smith to clinch the no. 1 spot in ICC’s latest Test rankings for batsmen.
Kohli, who recorded the scores of 149 and 51 in India’s 31-run defeat at Edgbaston, gained 31 points to end Smith’s 32-month reign as the numero uno Test batsman. Kohli now leads Smith by five points but will have to maintain the form in the remaining four Tests to finish the series as the world’s highest-ranked batsman.
While Kohli reached the pinnacle for the first time in his 67-Test career, he also became the seventh Indian batsman and first since Sachin Tendulkar in June 2011 to achieve this monumental feat.
Besides Kohli; Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Dilip Vengsarkar are the other India batsmen to have achieved no. 1 rankings in Test cricket.
However, with 934 points to his name, Kohli has become India’s highest-ranked batsman and 14th overall on the all-time tally of points. The Indian captain had entered into the Edgbaston Test with 903 points, 13 points behind Gavaskar, and is now ahead of the legendary opener by 18 points.
If Virat comes up with another batting masterclass in the second Test at Lord’s, he might break into the top 10 by overtaking Matthew Hayden, Kallis and AB de Villiers, whose highest points tally was 935 each. With 961 points, the great Sir Don Bradman is heading this elite list.
The batsmen to see a downfall in their rankings after the Edgbaston Test include Alistair Cook 17th (down by four places), Lokesh Rahul 19th (down by one place), Ajinkya Rahane 22nd (down by three places), Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, who now share 25th position after slipping two and one spots, respectively, and Ben Stokes 33rd (down by five places).
On the other hand, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has gained 14 points following his seven-wicket haul at Edgbaston. Ashwin (5th) now trails South Africa’s fourth-ranked Vernon Philander (826 rating points) by just one point. England’s ace pacer James Anderson is heading the bowler’s list with 884 rating points.
ICC batting rankings (Top 10):
Rank Player Points
1 Virat Kohli 934
2 Steve Smith 929
3 Joe Root 865
4 K. Williamson 847
5 David Warner 820
6 C. Pujara 791
7 D. Karunaratne 754
8 D. Chandimal 733
9 Dean Elgar 724
10 Aiden Markram 703
ICC bowling rankings (Top 10):
Rank Player Points
1 James Anderson 884
2 Kagiso Rabada 882
3 Ravindra Jadeja 857
4 Vernon Philander 826
5 R. Ashwin 825
6 Pat Cummins 800
7 Trent Boult 795
8 Rangana Herath 791
9 Neil Wagner 765
10 Josh Hazlewood 759