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Despite India’s horror show with the bat in the second innings of the recently-concluded Day/Night Test against Australia in Adelaide, skipper Virat Kohli has closed the gap with No.1 ranked-batsman Steve Smith.
Kohli smashed a 74 in the first innings to help his side earn a handy lead of 53 runs. However, Indian batting collapsed in the second innings and registered their lowest-ever Test total of 36. But thanks to his 74-run knock, Kohli has gained two points to reach 888 points in the ICC Test Batting Rankings updated on Sunday.
Now, Kohli is just 23 away from Smith, who has dropped 10 points but still owns the top spot. The former Australian captain has 911 points to his name.
Australian middle-order batsman, Marnus Labuschagne with his innings of 47 and 6 in the pink-ball Test, has attained career-best 839 points in the current rankings. Labuschagne has retained his 4th spot.
Similarly, Australia captain Tim Paine’s ‘Player of the Match’ knock (73 not out) has helped him to achieve career-best 33rd rank with 592 points.
Cheteshwar Pujara, the hero of India’s 2018-19 Test series triumph in Australia, has dropped a spot to 8th after registering a duct in the second innings of the Adelaide Test.
Kane Williamson is only 11 points behind Kohli
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is not far away from Kohli despite missing the second Test against West Indies due to the birth of his first child.
Williamson is only 11 rating points behind the India captain, who will not play the last three Tests against Australia as he has taken paternity leave. This means that the Kiwi superstar has a good opportunity to overtake Kohli as he will play two Tests against Pakistan at home.
Top 10 Test Batsmen (with rating points):
- 1. Steve Smith – 911
- 2. Virat Kohli – 888
- 3. Kane Williamson – 877
- 4. Marnus Labuschagne – 839
- 5. Babar Azam – 797
- 6. David Warner – 793
- 7. Ben Stokes – 760
- 8. Cheteshwar Pujara – 755
- 9. Joe Root – 738
- 10. Tom Latham – 724
