Virat Kohli consolidates No.1 spot in ICC Test rankings

Indian captain Virat Kohli, who scored a brilliant hundred in the 2nd Test against Australia, has retained his place as the top-ranked batsman in ICC Test rankings. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who has also retained his second spot, now has the highest career points in the rankings released on Thursday. Tom Latham, who scored a brilliant 264-run knock recently, has witnessed a significant rise in the rankings. India might have lost the 2nd Test, but as a result of his 123-run knock, Kohli gained 14 points to reach 934 points. With his century, Kohli has increased his lead of 7 points to 19 with Williamson.

Kohli bagged another ton to continue his top form while Williamson became the first Kiwi batsman to go past the 900-point mark. Kane was pivotal in his team's success against Pakistan and his contributions earned him a never-seen-before feat in the ICC Rankings. He had scored 89 and 139 in Abu Dhabi as his team went on to become the first Kiwi side to beat Pakistan in a Test series in Asia.

Cheteshwar



Pujara was another Indian player to have shone with the bat in Perth, scoring a 123-run knock in the first innings. He broke into top 5 for the first time in his career, occupying the 4th spot behind former Aussie skipper Steve Smith. Ajinkya Rahane, meanwhile, gained three places to No.15 while Rishabh Pant improved 11 spots to claim a career-high No.48.

Australia's Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood have emerged as two of the biggest gainers, moving to No. 7 and No. 9 positions respectively. While the 31-year-old spinner bagged 8/106 in the team's win in the second Test at Perth, Hazlewood also managed to bag 4 wickets in the two innings combined.

Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma were the other Indian bowlers who impressed with their performance in Australia. While Shami bagged figures of 6/56 in the second innings to move up by two slots to No.21, Ishant's five-wicket-haul took him ahead of England spinner Moeen Ali at the 26th place in rankings for bowlers.