ICC Test Rankings | Virat Kohli extends lead over Steve Smith; Marnus Labuschagne breaks into Top 5

It's rejoice for Virat Kohli and Indian fans as despite having finished up his quota of Test matches for 2019, the Indian skipper as further strengthened his hold at the top of the ICC Test rankings for batsman owing to Steve Smith's twin failure in the first Test against New Zealand in Perth. Kohli, who currently has a rating of 928, has taken a 17-point lead over Smith, who now has a rating of 911.  

The biggest mover of the week, however, was Australia's Marnus Labuschagne, who jumped three spots up to fifth to make his 'Top 5' debut. Labuschagne struck an impeccable 143 in the first innings and followed it up with another half-century in the second, thus going above both David Warner and Ajinkya Rahane in the rankings. The Queenslander is now just five points shy of India's Chesteshwar Pujara, who sits at fourth with 791 rating points to his name. 

Meanwhile, David Warner slipped two places to seventh, while Babar Azam, who struck a quickfire hundred in the rain-marred Test against Pakistan, broke into the top 10, jumping four spots to move to ninth. England's Joe Root also slipped one spot to eighth but still has a substantial 24-point lead over Azam. 

In the bowlers, it was New Zealand's Neil Wagner who made merry as he displaced Jason Holder to claim the third spot. In what was an exceptional display of pace bowling, Wagner bounced out the Aussie batsmen in Perth, bowling more than 60 overs and claiming seven wickets. Mitchell Starc, who was Man of the Match in the first Test, also made his return to the top five, whilst India's Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammad Shami dropped one spot each to sixth, eleventh and twelfth respectively.