Virat Kohli eyes top Test batsman rank, Team India remain number 1

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli is likely to bag the number one spot in International Cricket Council (ICC) ranking when the team meets England for a five-Test series. According to the latest Test rankings released by the ICC, Kohli is currently 26 points behind Steve Smith of Australia but is 48 points ahead of third-ranked Joe Root of England.

Other Indian batmen who featured in the top 20 are Cheteshwar Pujara, at number 6 with 799 points, Lokesh Rahul, at number 18 with 661 points, and Ajinkya Rahane at the 19th slot with 645 points.

However, Team India continues to top the list of Test squads with 125 points. The second spot has been shared by South Africa and Australia with 106 points each.

Among the bowlers, Ravindra Jadeja of India has featured on the third slot with an average of 23.11, while spinner Ravichandran Ashwin features on the fifth spot, with an average of 25.34. Pacer Mohammad Shami has also been included in the top 20 bowlers list. He has 696 points and an average of 28.9.

Jadeja and Ashwin have also made it to the list of top five all-rounders for Test.

Ahead of the Test series between India and England, James Anderson is topping the list of ballers. He will start England’s 1000th Test as the top ranked bowler of the world in the unlimited overs format of the game.

The MRF ICC Test players ranking, released by the cricketing body on Tuesday morning, saw Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne as the highest rank Test batsman for the country. He scored 53 and 85, and also benefitted from Dinesh Chandimal’s absence as well as below-par performances from Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram to move up three places to a career-best seventh position.

The biggest mover in the latest rankings is South Africa’s middle-order batsman Theunis de Bruyn. Although de Bruyn’s 101 failed to save his side from a 199-run defeat, his maiden Test century in his sixth Test has lifted the 25-year-old from 148th to 105th (up by 43 places).