KOHLI FINISHES AS WORLD’S BEST
DUBAI: India captain Virat Kohli finished as the number-one ranked batsman in the world in the latest ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen after the completion of the five-match series against England at London.
Kohli, who amassed 593 runs at an average of 59.3 in the series which the visitors lost by 1-4 margin, had started the series 27 points behind Australia’s Steve Smith and finished one point ahead of his closest rival.
Kohli had first reached the top of the world after the Edgbaston Test and then reclaimed the top spot after the Trent Bridge Test. He will now defend his number-one ranking in the two-test home series against the West Indies, which starts on October 4.
India’s Lokesh Rahul and Rishabh Pant also made big gains in the latest rankings with the opener advancing 16 places to 19th position after his knock of 149. Pant also moved up 63 places to 111th position after his 114 in only his third Test match. Ravindra Jadeja’s unbeaten 86 in the first innings has helped him gain 12 places to reach 58th among batsmen while he has also moved up one place in the all-rounder’s
list to second position. Among others, England opener Alastair Cook signed off from international cricket on a remarkable note, moving into the top-10 of the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen after a Player of the Match performance in the final Test at The Oval. The left-hander’s scores of 71 and 147 made him only the fifth man in history to notch a century in his first and last Test matches, and also helped his side win by 118 runs to complete a 4-1 win in the five-match series. This memorable performance
lifted the 33-year-old 11 positions to 10th in the latest rankings, which were released on Wednesday morning.
Cook had achieved a career-high ranking of second in September 2011 after he had scored a Test best 294