Virat Kohli climbs to fifth spot in Test rankings
Indian skipper Virat Kohli has climbed up to the fifth spot in the latest ICC Test rankings, after scoring a superb unbeaten century during a recently-concluded drawn opening Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens. Kohli smashed a brilliant knock of 104, including 12 boundaries and six fifties, off just 119 deliveries to help India post a respectable second-innings score of 352-8 declared.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli
The 18th Test century and 50th international hundred saw Kohli edge Warner to take fifth position in the rankings.
Meanwhile, opener Shikhar Dhawan has gained two places to reach 28th position while among India¿s bowlers, pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar has gained eight places to reach a career-best 29th position and Mohammad Shami has moved up one slot to 18th position.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who started the Sri Lanka series with the opportunity to reclaim the top bowling and all-rounder rankings, could not work towards the objective in Kolkata as all Sri Lanka batsmen fell to pace bowlers.
As a result, Jadeja has slipped to third position among bowlers and also lost 20 points in the rankings for all-rounders, but still has a lot to look forward to in the remaining matches.
For Sri Lanka, Niroshan Dickwella has gained three slots to reach 37th position among batsmen while off-spinner Dilruwan Perera has moved up three places to reach 22nd position among bowlers.
As far as ICC Test Team Rankings is concerned, Australia will look to maximize their home advantage and move up from fifth position when they head into the five-match Ashes series against England, starting in Brisbane on Thursday.
Third-placed England will go into the series with 105 points in the standings, enjoying an eight-point lead over Australia.
However, Australia could overtake England if they win by a margin of 2-0 or better and could even go up to third position if they can complete a 5-0 series washout.
In the event of being blanked out, England will slip down to 98 points.
On the other hand, England will go up to 110 points with a 5-0 win, in which case Australia will slip to 91 points and could be down to sixth position.
India, who are currently engaged in a three-Test home series with Sri Lanka, lead the table with 125 points while South Africa are in second place with 111 points.
The Test team rankings, unlike the ODI and T20I rankings, are updated after the end of the series and the Test predictor function is available here
In the ICC Test Player Rankings, Australia captain Steve Smith leads the table for batsmen with his counterpart Joe Root in second position but a good 47 points behind.
Australia¿s left-handed batsman David Warner is another player in the top-10, in sixth position. Outside the top 20, Peter Handscomb is at a career-best 26th position and would be looking to further advance in the rankings.
Australia also boast Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon in sixth and seventh positions, respectively, among bowlers, while Mitchell Starc is in 13th position and would be looking to find his way into the top 10.
For England, former captain Alastair Cook will be hoping to repeat his 2010-11 Ashes form, when he scored 766 runs. He is presently ranked 10th while Jonny Bairstow is ranked 15th.
England¿s bowling is led by top-ranked James Anderson, who enjoys a 20-point lead over South Africa pace bowler Kagiso Rabada. He is presently on 896 points and in with a chance to become only the seventh England bowler to touch the 900-point mark. Stuart Broad is ranked 10th.
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