Rabada becomes No 1 bowler, Kohli and Pujara slip in ICC rankings

MUMBAI: South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada, who picked up five wickets in the Cape Town Test, has dethroned England’s James Anderson to become the new No.1 bowler in the latest ICC rankings. Rabada became only the seventh South African bowler to top the ICC Rankings.

Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, who both fell cheaply in the Newlands Test, slipped down the rankings while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya received a big boost in their rankings following their great returns in Newlands.

Kohli scored a total of 33 runs — five and 28 at Cape Town , which saw him drop 13 points and slip to third.

At the same time, England skipper Joe Root scored 141 runs in the fifth and final Ashes 2017-18 Test which saw him go past the Indian captain as well as New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.

Root, who could not come out to bat due to sickness, earned 26 points from the Sydney Test in which he was dismissed only once. Pujara dropped two places from third to fifth, whereas Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma also slipped.

With his outstanding opening spell on the first day of the Cape Town Test as well as in the second innings, Bhuvneshwar moved up eight places to reach 22nd spot. Hardik Pandya rose 24 places to be ranked 49th after his impressive all-round show. Among all-rounders, Shakib Al Hasan remained on top while Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin remained in second and third spots.

Vernon Philander’s careerbest figures of 6/42 and nine in the Test against India saw him move from 12th to sixth.

Steve Smith, who hammered 687 runs in the Ashes at 137.40 with three centuries and two fifties, remained on top with 947 rating points.