India skipper Virat Kohli regained the top position in ICC Test Batting Rankings after the third Test match against England at Trent Bridge. The 29-year old struck his 23rd century in the second innings and also scored 97 in the first innings in a match which India won by 203 runs. Kohli, who was named as the Player of the Match, reached 937 rating points, a career-best for him, to become the current No.1 Test batsman in the world according to ICC Rankings.
The right-hand batsman had earlier reached the position two weeks ago after the first Test match in the series at Edgbaston in which he scored a hard-fought 149. But after registering scores of 23 and 17 in the second Test, Kohli slipped from the spot, giving the banned Australian cricket Steve Smith his original top position.
Kohli is now only a point away from breaking into the top ten position on all-time points list which feature 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).
Hardik Pandya, who impressed with a fifer in the third Test, and also scored a half-century in the second innings, also saw a jump of 27 points in all-rounders’ list, to reach 17th position in the rankings. He also saw a jump of eight places to reach the 51st position in the rankings.
For England, skipper Joe Root dropped down to places to reach the 5th position in Test batting rankings and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, who was injured during the match, dropped to 11th position.
