Virat Kohli retains his No.1 position in ICC Test batsmen rankings

Indian captain Virat Kohli reigned supreme on the ICC Test rankings for quite some time now, though he lost the no.1 spot briefly to Australia’s Steve Smith after the latter’s amazing Ashes 2019 outing. But the Indian magician has retained his top spot in the ICC Test rankings in the latest release. The right-hander was amongst runs in all the series India played this past year.

Kohli, who became the first Indian captain to win a maiden Test series in Australia at the start of last year and continued that form when they decimated West Indies in their own backyard. He then led the Indian team to Test series wins over South Africa and Bangladesh at home, including a victory in the first-ever day-night Test match to be played in the country.

Virat Kohli established his lead by 17 points over second-ranked Steve Smith

The 31-year-old scored 612 runs in 8 Tests last year with a best of 254* with two centuries and two fifties. He averaged an astonishing 68.00. He has 928 points to his name, 17 more than Australia’s Steve Smith, who is ranked second in the ICC Test batsmen rankings. Marnus Labuschagne, who had a break out year in 2019, with over 1100 runs to his name, is at the third spot with 827 points.

Along with Kohli, his deputy in Tests Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are also present in the top 10 batsmen rankings. Cheteshwar Pujara is at the sixth place with 791 points, and Ajinkya Rahane with 759 points and placed eight, are the other two Indian batsmen in the rankings. Pujara slammed 507 runs in 8 Tests last year, while Rahane made 642 runs in the same number of matches in 2019. Pujara was the architect of India’s series win in Australia, while Rahane found form with a century in West Indies.

Jasprit Bumrah is the highest-ranked Indian bowler in the rankings at sixth spot with 794 points to his name, while Ravichandran Ashwin at eighth place and Mohammed Shami completing the top-10. Ravindra Jadeja was occupying the third place in the all-rounder’s list with 438 points.

Ashwin is the fifth-ranked all-rounder in the latest rankings. Meanwhile, Ben Stokes reached his career-best second ranking as an all-rounder, and was back in the top 10 as a batsman and is ranked 29^th as a bowler as well.

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