Virat Kohli Moves to No. 2 in ICC Test Batting Rankings

Team India skipper Virat Kohli, who is prolific run scorer across all formats has moved to second place in the latest ICC Test batting rankings released on Thursday.

The batting hero, Kohli, who was named Man of the Series in the recently concluded series against Sri Lanka which hosts won by 1-0 after the third and final Test has further moved up three spots to position himself at the second place.

The 29-year-old Kohli had collected 893 points before he eclipsed Kane Williamson (New Zealand) and David Warner (Australia), followed by Cheteshwar Pujara (India) and Joe Root (England).

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Kohli led India from the front which saw him smashing two double-centuries in two consecutive innings in Nagpur and Delhi, respectively. In the recently concluded series against the Lions, Kohli after being dismissed for nought in Kolkata went on to smash unbeaten 104 in the second innings.

Delhi-based Kohli has been among the bulk of runs owing to his prolific form in the 2017 calendar year, as he further amassed 610 runs in five innings against Sri Lanka.

On the other side, however, Australia skipper Steven Smith is topping the charts with 938 points, and the point difference between to modern-day batters is 45 in total. Pertinently, Kohli is ruling the roost in limited-overs cricket, as he is placed on the top of One-day International and Twenty20 International charts.

Interestingly, the top-order batsman also scored his Test-best of 243 at the home ground to continue with the astronomical rise in his cricketing career. On a record-breaking spree, Kohli smashed 2,818 runs across formats in 2017 which further saw him completing 5,000 Test runs and also surpassed legendary batsman Brian Lara for breaking the most number of double-tons (six) as a skipper.

In 32 matches as a skipper, Kohli smashed six double-hundreds in 50 innings, as Lara registered five in 47 Tests after featuring in 85 innings as a Windies captain.

In 63 Test matches, Kohli amassed 5,268 runs at an average of 53.75. He smashed 20 hundred and 15 fifties. With Smith having a decent lead regarding points over Kohli, the spot until the fifth place has a strong competition, as the New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is placed at fifth number position.

So much so, Kohli scored runs at will – to replace Pujara in the Test rankings list for the batting. Before the start of Delhi Test, there was the 11-point difference between top-order batsman Pujara and Kohli.

However, with Kohli position second on the list, the point-gap has extended to 28 following the spectacular performance from Kohli.

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In 2005-06, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting had achieved the feat in December-January to top all three formats at the same time, as Matthew Hayden on the other side has also enjoyed the run across formats.

Moreover, Murali Vijay moved up to 25th position, as Rohit Sharma reached to 40th position, as Sri Lankan batsman Dhananjaya de Silva managed to reach 47th place.