The veteran Indian opener, Rohit Sharma on Wednesday surpassed his skipper Virat Kohli to become a top-ranked Indian batsman after being placed fifth in the latest ICC men’s Test Player Rankings. Rohit’s scores of 19 and 59 in the third Test helped him one place to a career-best fifth position, seven rating points more than Kohli for an aggregate of 773.
The last time someone other than Virat Kohli, another Indian batsman had a better ranking in Tests was in November 2017, when Cheteshwar Pujara was second and Kohli fifth. In the latest update, Pujara has taken a leap of three places to reach 15th position after his second innings knock of 91 and is the fourth Indian on the list with Rishabh Pant still ahead of him in 12th position despite witnessing a downfall of four places.
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The fiery Indian fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah also rose one place among bowlers, from 10th to ninth, while spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was static at the second place behind Australia’s Pat Cummins. Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin held on to their third and fourth places respectively in the Test all-rounder rankings, with Jason Holder standing comfortably at the numero uno position.
England captain Joe Root’s sublime form in 2021 has helped him reclaim the top spot for batters after nearly six years. In the ongoing series against India, he has already amassed 507 runs with the help of three centuries and a fifty.
Other changes in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings for the week:
🔹 Rohit Sharma overtakes Virat Kohli
🔹 James Anderson enters top fiveDetails 👉 https://t.co/woGyneJVGk pic.twitter.com/9mFl314BS8
— ICC (@ICC) September 1, 2021
The last time someone apart from Kohli, Jane Williamson, and Steve Smith was at the top was South Africa’s AB de Villiers in November 2015. Joe Root is now only one point below his career-best aggregate of 917 rating points, which he achieved in August 2015 after his innings of 130 against Australia in Nottingham.
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Among bowlers, veteran England pacer James Anderson has again reached 5th place, his four wickets in the match lifting him one place, while Player of the Match Ollie Robinson has advanced nine places to 36th after his seven-wicket match haul.
