Indian skipper Virat Kohli has a made a comeback to the no.1 position in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Rankings for batsmen after scoring 200 runs in the Nottingham Test against England, which helped the visitors to register helped India to a 203-run victory on Tuesday, 22 August.
Kohli’s tally of runs helped him to gather 937 rating points (his personal best so far) and that helped push him back atop Steve Smith in the charts. He had reached the No.1 spot after registering the scores of 149 and 51 in the first Test at Edgbaston, but scores of 23 and 17 at Lord’s meant he slipped back down.
Kohli is now just need one more point to reach the tally of top-10 all-time rating list: Don Bradman (961 points), Steve 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).
ALSO READ: Record broken in the third Test
Apart from Kohli, there are some more Indian cricketers who have shown growth in the rankings, but no one impressed more than Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder answered his critics with his maiden five-wicket haul – a 5/28 in the first innings – and a run-a-ball 52*. It helped him to rose to No.51 in the batsmen’s rankings, a jump of eight positions, but his rising stock was more keenly felt in the bowlers’ charts: he moved up 23 places to No.51, with a career-best of 340 points.
Pandya’s all-round display helped him to gain significantly in the all-rounders’ rankings as well, as he now sits at No.17, after a massive jump of 27 places.
Jasprit Bumrah was another Indian who impressed. His 5/85 in the second innings accounted for Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, and Jos Buttler, who had scored his maiden Test century. It helped him, after just four Tests, move up to No.37 in the rankings.
WATCH – Heart-warming Gesture Virat Kohli For His Fan In England
Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane moved up four places as the southpaw now sits at No.22 in the batsmen’s rankings, two places below Rahane at No.19.
It wasn’t all that bad for England as well, Buttler’s efforts that frustrated India helped him to move up 22 places to No.47 in the batsmen’s’ chart. Adil Rashid, who picked up four wickets in the match jumped up eight spots among both batsmen and all-rounders, and is now 116th in the batting charts and 43rd among all-rounders. He also moved up by four places among bowlers, and is now in the top 50, at No.47.
