India Vs England | Virat Kohli loses top spot to banned Aussie skipper Steven Smith

India Vs England | Virat Kohli loses top spot to banned Aussie skipper Steven Smith

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A below-par performance from Virat Kohli in the second Test at Lord’s meant that banned Australian skipper Steven Smith will return to the top spot in the ICC Test rankings. The Indian captain recorded scores of 23 and 17 as India slumped to an embarrassing loss by an innings and 159 runs.

Team India’s disastrous Test series continued as Virat Kohli & Co. fell to one of their biggest defeats in Test cricket in recent few years. After Kohli put on a one-man show in the first match at Edgbaston, where he scored 149 and 51 in both the innings, many opined that he would repeat the same at Lord’s, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Kohli, who clinched the top spot post the Edgbaston Test, has now been replaced by suspended Aussie skipper Steven Smith as the top Test batsman in the recent update of the ICC Test rankings. The 29-year old was unable to lead his faltering batting line-up as he notched up scores of 23 and 17 as India were thoroughly wiped away by a dominant English team, who now lead the series by a margin of 2-0.

Smith, who has been serving a one-year ban for his role in the ball-tampering scandal, moved back to the top of rankings with 929 points, while Kohli dropped to 919 points. The Indian skipper had become the first batsman since Sachin Tendulkar to be ranked number one in Test cricket since 2011.

In more bad news for Indian fans, Murali Vijay slipped eight places to No.33 after being dismissed for naught at the Lord's. That was after he had previously managed just 20 and 6 in the first Test at Edgbaston. Dinesh Karthik fell 18 places and is now ranked No.195 after tallying just one run across two innings at Lord's.

However, veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin's stock as a batsman rose after scores of 29 and 33* which saw him jump 10 places to No. 57 in the batting charts, and also made him the Number three-ranked player among all-rounders after moving up by one place.

Amongst the bowlers, England’s star pacer - James Anderson, who also broke the 900-point barrier for the first time in his career, and maintained his position at number one. Anderson took nine wickets in the second Test against India as he gained 19 points to move to 903 rating points. He's the first bowler to do so after Ian Botham in 1980. The 36-year old bowler is followed by South Africa's Kagiso Rabada with 882 points.

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