DUBAI: India skipper 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-ranked batsman and reach the top of the summit for the first time in his 67-Test career.
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. Tendulkar had joined South Africa’s Jacques Kallis in number-one position in January 2011. (PTI)
