ICC rankings: Alastair Cook retires on 10th, Virat Kohli retains top spot

Alastair Cook signed off from international cricket in style, scoring 71 and 147 in his farewell Test match, which also saw him jump into the top-10 of the ICC Test rankings on Wednesday. Indian captain Virat Kohli retained his place at the top of the list.

The left-hander with a total of 218 runs in the match helped England beat India by 118 runs and win the five-match Test series 4-1.

After becoming only the fifth batsman in history to score centuries in both the first and last Test matches, Cook gained 11 places to move to the 10^th position. The best ranking in his career was the second position which he had acquired after his 294 against India in 2011.

Also Read: My script couldn’t have been written better: Alastair Cook on his retirement

He also has the third-best ranking for a retiring England cricketer after Wally Hammond (5^th) and    Geoffrey Boycott (8^th).

Kohli, who bagged a first-ball duck in India’s second innings at The Oval held on to his spot at the top of the rankings for Test batsmen with 930 rating points. The 29-year old had begun the series with 27 points behind former Australia skipper Steve Smith. The right-hander initially had climbed to the top of the rankings after the first Test match in Edgbaston. He had lost the spot after the second match, only to reclaim it after India ended up victorious in Nottingham.

Among other batsmen, England skipper Joe Root gained one place to go up to the fourth position after his classy 125 in the second innings at The Oval. Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali too gained nine and five places to move to the 23^rd and 43^rd position, respectively.

KL Rahul with his defiant 149 in the fourth innings at The Oval gained 16 places to climb to the 19th position. Young wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant, who supported him quite nicely in notching up a century (114) himself gained 63 places to move to the 111^th position.

Ravindra Jadeja with his unbeaten 86 in the first innings moved up 12 places to reach the 58^th position in the rankings.

England pacer James Anderson, who had started the series at the first position has ended it too at the same place. He had achieved a career-high rating of 903 points and ended the series at 899.

Meanwhile, England, with this 4-1 series triumph has now become the fourth-ranked Test side. India held on to the top spot but lost 10 points to end up with 115.