Steve Smith overtakes Kohli in Test Ranking
Steve
Smith overtakes Indian captain Virat Kohli to become the world's top test
batsman, based on the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings. Kohli's the team climbed to the top of the new ICC World Test Championship table with a 2-0
The Series sweep against the West Indies. But his own duck in the first ball in the second inning at Sabina Park meant he slipped to second in the men's individual
standings with 903 points.
Smith
leads Kohli by a point but will have a chance to consolidate his position in
the fourth Ashes Test against England from Wednesday at Old Trafford, where he
will return after recovering from a concussion.
Former
Captain Smith has not held the top spot since December 2015. Last August, while
serving a 12-month ban for a ball-tampering scandal, Kohli caught up with steve smith. The Australian Steve Smith has since made a remarkable comeback
in the most extended format, with hundreds of doubles at the first Ashes Test in
Birmingham.
He
followed with a 92 at Lord's before being hit by a short ball from England speeder
Jofra Archer. Australia now has both the world's number one batsman and
pitcher, with Pat Cummins topping the bowling rankings since February 2019.
It
Is for the first time that the Australians have topped the standings with batting and
ball since March 2006. When Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath dominated the
Individual rankings. The next opportunity for Kohli to react will be in a
series of home tests against South Africa starting October 2.
New
Zealand skipper Kane Williamson retained third place, while India's Ajinkya
Rahane returned to the top 10, finishing four areas in seventh place. After
completing the series in the Caribbean with 13 wickets at an impressive average
of 9.23, Indian paceman Jasprit Bumrah moved up four spots to third in the
test standings for bowlers, with a career-best score of 835 points. At the age
of 25, only Cummins and Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) remain.
Already
in first place in the overall test standings, West Indies captain Jason Holder
moved up seven spots on the steaming list to join England's James Anderson in
Fourth. Ben Stokes remained in 2nd place in the full competition
standings after his second-round winning performance in the third Ashes Test at
Headingley, behind Holder and ahead of Third-placed Shakib Al Hasan of
Bangladesh.
