India skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday toppled former Australia captain Steve Smith to become the number-one ranked batsman in Test cricket. Virat Kohli today topped the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, riding on his brilliant century against England in the opening Test at Edgbaston. Kohli thus became the seventh India batsman and first since Sachin Tendulkar (in June 2011) to be ranked the number one Test batsman in the latest ICC ranking released today. Kohli scored 149 and 51 in India’s 31-run defeat and has gone up by 31 points, which have helped him to end Steve Smith’s 32-month reign as the top-ranking released today.
Kohli aggregated 200 runs in both innings of the first Test against England at Edgbaston which helped him gain 31 points and end Smith’s 32-month reign as the top-ranked batsman and reach the top of the summit for the first time in his 67-Test career.
Kohli waged a lone battle at Edgbaston, making 149 in the first innings before scoring a composed 51 in the second. However, there was absolutely no support from the top-order which included Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane as India lost by 31 runs and now trail 1-0 in the five-match series.Kohli is the seventh Indian batsman and first since Sachin Tendulkar in June 2011 to be ranked number one in Test cricket. Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Dilip Vengsarkar are the other Indian batsmen to have achieved number-one rankings during their careers.
Kohli now leads Smith (who had held the top spot since December 2015) by five points, but will have to maintain the form in the remaining four Tests to finish the series as the world’s highest-ranked batsman.Kohli is currently on 934 points and is 14th on the all-time tally of points list. With four more Test matches to go in the series against England, the Delhi batsman has a great opportunity to break into the top-10 all-time tally of points list.
