Root Overtakes Kohli In ICC Test Rankings; Rishabh Pant Creates A Record

England captain Joe Root’s match-winning 218 in the first Test against India has helped him advance two places to third position in the ICC test rankings. He has overtaken counterpart Virat Kohli in the process. Kohli has slipped one place and is now 5th in the rankings. 

Root, who helped his team to a memorable 227-run victory in Chennai that kept England in contention for the ICC World Test Championship final, has reached 883 rating points, his highest since September 2017, after a fabulous run in the sub-continent has seen him accumulate 684 runs in three Tests, two of which were in Sri Lanka.

Ahead of Kohli for the first time since November 2017, Root is now 36 points behind top-ranked Kane Williamson and trails Steve Smith by only eight points. With Marnus Labuschagne also in the mix, competition for the top five slots is intense with all of them above 850 rating points.

Formerly top-ranked James Anderson has jumped third from sixth and is only four points behind Stuart Broad. Anderson is at his highest ranking since the start of the ICC World Test Championship.

Rishabh Pant’s knock of 91 in the first innings has helped him become the first full-time wicketkeeper from India to reach 700 rating points as he retained 13th position among batsmen. 

Kyle Mayers, whose scores of 40 and 210 not out helped script an epic win in the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong, has entered the rankings in 70th position with 448 rating points, the best by a West Indian batsman on debut and the second-best ever on debut after RE Foster in 1903. 

After leading Pakistan to a 2-0 sweep over South Africa Babar Azam has moved ahead of India’s premier Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara. Babar is now at 6th place in the ICC test batsmen rankings.