England and India: Virat Kohli drops to second in ICC Test rankings

Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who jumped into the top of the Test rankings after his heroics in the opening match against England, dropped to second following India’s heavy defeat in the second Test at Lord’s on Sunday.

Kohli lost his position to Steve Smith of Australia, who is currently serving a one-year ban handed by the Cricket Board of Australia for his role in the ball-tampering row against South Africa earlier this year.

India lost by an innings and 159 runs in the second Test at Lord’s managing a combined total of 237 across both the innings. None of the Indian batsmen could even cross the 50-run mark, including Kohli who made 23 and 17 as his crumbled to a heavy defeat.

India captain @imVkohli has slipped back down behind Steve Smith into second in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Batting Rankings following their heavy defeat at Lord’s.

➡️ https://t.co/dHfF0HQul5 pic.twitter.com/m9Q2Zyt3OS

— ICC (@ICC) August 13, 2018

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The flamboyant batsmen had become the first Indian since Sachin Tendulkar (2011) to hold the top position in batting rankings.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who failed to produce anything substantial with the ball in a swing-friendly condition was India’s highest scorer in both the essays. His strokeful innings of 29 and 33 propelled him to the 57^th position in the ICC batting rankings.

His defiant batting in the low-scoring game also helped him leapfrog Vernon Philander into the third position in the all-rounders list.

Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya who has so far bowled well in patches in both the tests also moved up 25 places to be placed 74^th among the bowlers.

Ashwin has also leap-frogged South Africa’s Vernon Philander to grab the third position among all-rounders. On the other hand, all-rounder Hardik Pandya has moved up 25 places to take the 74th spot among bowlers.

England fast bowler James Anderson who on Sunday became the first bowler to take 100 wickets at Lord’s and only the second bowler to reach that figure in a single ground held on to his No.1 position in the bowlers’ rankings.

The 36-year-old is also the seventh England bowler and the first in 38 years to reach the 900-point mark in ICC rankings. His figures of 9/43 helped him reach 903 points and become the first bowler since Ian Botham reached the 900-point barrier in 1980.

Sydney Barnes (932), George Lohmann (931), Tony Lock (912), Ian Botham (911), Derek Underwood (907) and Alec Bedser (903) are the other English bowlers who crossed 900-points during their playing days.

Anderson currently leads second-placed Kagiso Rabada (882) by 21 points.