Kohli regains top spot in ICC Test rankings

Sports Desk: Following a superlative show with the bat in the third Test against England, Virat Kohli has reclaimed the No.1 spot on the ICC rankings charts that he lost to Steve Smith after India's defeat at Lord's in the second Test.

The Indian captain notched up scores of 97 and 103 in the two innings at Trent Bridge which helped India record a massive 203-run win over the hosts. His feats have taken him to 937 rating points, the highest he’s reached so far in his career.

He is now just one point shy of breaking into the all-time list.

The current top ten include Don Bradman (961 points), Steven Smith (947), Len Hutton (945), Jack Hobbs and Ricky Ponting (both on 942), Peter May (941), and Gary Sobers, Clyde Walcott, Vivian Richards and Kumar Sangakkara (all on 938 points).

Kohli has already laid the ghosts of 2014 to rest with a superb show on the current tour. In the three Tests, the skipper has amassed 440 runs at an immaculate 73.33 and is comfortably the highest-run scorer so far in the series with Jonny Bairstow, behind him on 206.

The Indian captain was not the only one to gain following India's emphatic win at Trent Bridge. Hardik Pandya's maiden five-wicket haul in the first innings, where he ripped apart the English middle-order with figures of 5 for 28 saw him rise 23 places to No.51 on the bowling charts and achieve a career-high 340 points.

The 24-year-old also turned it around with the bat scoring a run-a-ball 52 in the second innings which has helped him take a massive leap in the all-rounder's rankings. He now sits at No.17 having taken a massive jump of 27 places.

Jasprit Bumrah, who missed the first two Tests due to a thumb injury, also had a successful return to Test cricket, picking up 5 for 85 in the second innings. He first got the key scalp of Joe Root and then came back to break the 169-run stand between Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes which was starting to look threatening by accounting for the former.

Having made his debut just earlier this year against South Africa, Bumrah already finds himself at the No.37 spot on the rankings charts for bowlers after just four Tests. Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane, after their commendable comebacks, have also moved up on the table by four places each.

Dhawan now is on No.22 in the batsmen’s rankings while is Rahane at No.19.

Source: Agencies

risingbd/Dhaka/August 23, 2018/A K Azad