New Delhi: Indian skipper Virat Kohli became only the second from his country to reach the 900-point mark in the ICC Test rankings. Kohli, now has 900 rating points in the updated rankings after the Centurion test and is at the second position in the list after Australian skipper Steve Smith who has 947 points to his name.
The 29-year-old thus went past the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, a member of the ICC Hall of Fame who had achieved this feat in his 50th Test match where he had scored of 13 and 221 at The Oval in 1979 which saw him jump from 887 to 916 rating points, which was also his career’s best. Kohli achieved this rare and significant feat after he scored his 21st Test century against the Proteas in Centurion in his 65th Test and he jumped from 880 to 900 points after that knock.
India’s legendary batsmen-Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid came close to the 900-point mark but were unable to go past it. While Tendulkar’s highest rating was 898 in 2002, Dravid had 892 points in 2005.
Virat Kohli also became the 31st batsman in Test cricket to achieve the feat. The legendary Don Bradman sits right at the top of the table with 961 points followed by Aussie captain Steve Smith at 947 points. They are followed by Len Hutton (945), Ricky Ponting and Jack Hobbs (both 942 points).
The Indian captain also went past his English counterpart in Joe Root to the second position as the top four positions continue to be occupied by Test captains who have earlier featured in the U-19 World Cup. Smith leads Kohli by 47 points, who in turn leads Root by 19 points. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson trails third-placed Root by 26 points.
In the top 20, batsmen who have gained places are Hashim Amla, Faf Du Plessis ans Dean Elgar while Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock have headed in the opposite direction. Amla had scored 82 in the first innings in Centurion against India and gained two places to the eighth position. Proteas skipper Faf Du Plessis, who had made 63 and 48 in the first and second innings respectively achieved a career-best ranking of 12th after he gained two places. Elgar also gained two places to be the ranked 14th after scores of 31 and 61 in the match.
In stark contrast, Pujara has fallen one place to the sixth position, while Rahul and de Kock have lost six and five places respectively to be ranked 18th and 20th in the rankings.
South African opener Aiden Markram has made rapid gains outside the top 20 as he gained 10 places to the 38th place which he now shares with Roston Chase of the West Indies. In the last three Test matches, Markram, who had captained South Africa in the ICC U-19 World Cup in UAE in 2014 gained a total of 20 places.
In the bowlers’ rankings, Kagiso Rabada was dethroned as the number one ranked bowler by England’s James Anderson. Rabada had an ordinary match as per his standards in Centurion as he had figures of 1/74 and 3/47 in both the innings and he lost a total of 16 points to trail Anderson by 15.
In the top 10, Vernon Philander and Ravichandran Ashwin lost one place each to be ranked fifth and seventh respectively. However, after a taking a total of five wickets in the match, Mohammad Shami achieved a career-best 17th ranking. South Africa’s latest pace sensation Lungisani Ngidi entered into the rankings in dramatic style at the 61st position after he took 1/51 and 6/39, which helped South Africa crush India by 135 runs and gain an unassailable 2-0 lead.