ICC Test Rankings | Virat Kohli climbs up to fifth spot; Ravindra Jadeja slips to third
Virat Kohli’s recent performance in the first Test against Sri Lanka has helped him improve his position on the latest ICC rankings where he has risen to fifth place. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, too, gained eight places moving to a career-high 29th place while Ravindra Jadeja slipped to the third position.
Kohli played a huge role in the first Test against Sri Lanka scoring his 50th international century which helped him become the eight batsmen overall and second Indian player to reach the milestone. Riding on Kohli's unbeaten knock, the hosts set Sri Lanka a target of 231 to chase in the last two sessions of the match. While the match ended in a draw, the innings has helped Kohli, who leads ODI and T20I batting rankings, leapfrog David Warner to the fifth spot in the batsmen's rankings. With the second Test scheduled to start on November 24 in Nagpur and the Ashes to start a day earlier, the rankings might change on a weekly basis for the next two months.Â
In the first Test, played at the Eden Garden, Jadeja bowled only two overs as the pitch was damp and suitable for India’s trio of fast bowlers who claimed all the 17 wickets in two innings. He didn’t get a chance to improve his rankings in the Test bowlers list and now he featured on the third spot with 868 points followed by another Indian Ravichandran Ashwin. Jadeja also failed to reclaim back top position in the all-rounders' list as he spotted on second place.
Even though Sri Lanka has to see out two sessions to claim a draw, Bhuvneshwar gave them a good scare as he finished with figures 4/8 to land the Man of the Match award. His performance helped him to move up eight places to land at a career-high 29th place in the ICC Test bowler rankings. Mohammed Shami’s six-wicket haul in a match also helped him improve his ranking by one place ending up at the 18th position.