Virat Kohli overtakes Steve Smith to become No.1 batsman in ICC Test rankings

Indian captain Virat Kohli on Sunday leapfrogged Steve Smith to top the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) rankings for Test batsmen after his master-class century against England in the opening Test at Edgbaston.

Kohli scored a brilliant 149 in the first innings and followed it up with another half-century in the second albeit in a losing cause to overtake the tarnished former Australian captain. The achievement made him the seventh Indian batsmen and the first since Sachin Tendulkar (2011) to be ranked No. 1 in Test cricket.

The century at Edgbaston was Kohli’s 22^nd ton and helped him earn a career-high 934 rating points, five more than Smith, who is currently serving a 12-month ban from international cricket for his involvement in the ball-tampering row against South Africa. It also ended the former Australian captain’s 32month reign at the top.

Apart from Kohli and Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Dilip Vengsarkar are the other Indian batsmen to hold the top Test batting position. With 934 points, Kohli though India’s highest-ranked batsman, and 14^th in the overall list of all-time record tally points.

KOHLI IS NO.1@imVkohli has overtaken Steve Smith to become the new No.1 batsman in @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Rankings.

He is the first Indian since @sachin_rt to get there.

READ ⬇️https://t.co/Hw7OCimIKw pic.twitter.com/s8h4fNmJYK

— ICC (@ICC) August 5, 2018

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Coming to the Edgbaston Test, Kohli was 13 points behind the legendary Sunil Gavaskar but now leads the former cricketer by 18 points. Donald Bradman (961) and Smith (947) lead the prestigious list.

However, the other Indian batsmen slipped down in the rankings after a disastrous batting display in the 31-run defeat to England. Among them, Lokesh Rahul (19^th) and Ajinkya Rahane (22^nd) moved one and three places respectively.

Opening partners Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan moved two and three places below to share the 25^th position. Meanwhile, England’s wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow jumped fourth places high to share the 12^th position with West Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite.

Also Read: England vs India: Global superstar Virat Kohli will break all records, says Steve Waugh

In the bowling rankings, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who took seven wickets (4/62 and 3/59) in the first Test match, gained 14 rating points and is just one point shy of the fourth-placed Vernon Philander. Ben Stokes who failed with the bat, but delivered a match-winning spell in the second innings against India jumped four places, to be placed 27^th in the rankings.

20-year-old Tom Curran, who won the Man of the Match for his incredible all-around performance gained points in all of the departments.