Virat Kohli Leapfrogs Steve Smith To Reclaim The Top Spot In ICC Test Rankings

Team India skipper Virat Kohli has been in excellent form with the bat in recent times. He brought his 27th Test century as India won the historic pink-ball Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. On the back of the brilliant show, the talismanic run-scorer has once again leapfrogged Australia’s Steve Smith to be the top-ranked batsman in ICC Test Rankings for batsmen.

Kohli went past Smith with his brilliance when the Aussie batsman was suspended for his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018. But Steve Smith made the spot his once again in his return Test cricket during the Ashes in England. Smith took the cricketing world by storm by his scintillating show scoring over 750 runs from four Tests.

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Virat Kohli leapfrogs Smith

Although Virat Kohli toiled in the second spot but closed in the on the gap with a double century against South Africa. And now he has once again reclaimed the top spot with a century against Bangladesh in Kolkata. Steve Smith, who had a lean patch in the series against Pakistan now sits on the second spot with 923 ratings while Kohli tops the chart with a lead of five points.

Virat Kohli back to No.1!

David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne and Joe Root make significant gains in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Rankings for batting.

Full rankings: https://t.co/AIR0KN4yY5 pic.twitter.com/AXBx6UIQkL

— ICC (@ICC) December 4, 2019

In other news, David Warner, who bounced back to form with a century and a triple hundred against Pakistan has jumped 12 spots to occupy the fifth place. Warner witnessed poor returns against England in the Ashes and was in the firing line. But he bounced back in grand style to prove why he is still one of the best openers across the formats. Meanwhile, the southpaw was in line to break Brian Lara’s record of most Test runs in an innings but Australia skipper Tim Paine chose to declare the inning when Warner was batting at 335.

Joe Root and Marnus Labuschagne, who had good outings against New Zealand and Pakistan respectively, jumped four and sixth spots to sit on the seventh and eighth place in the list. Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane has dropped one place to occupy the sixth spot while Cheteshwar Pujara retains his position in the fourth number.

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