Virat Kohli Regains Top Ranking After Match Winning Effort

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India captain Virat Kohli has reached a personal best of 937 rating points while reclaiming the top position for batsmen in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings after the Trent Bridge Test.

The 29-year-old’s player of the match effort of 97 and 103 not only helped his team reduce the deficit in the five-match series to 2-1 after winning the third Test by 203 runs but has also lifted him to the 11th best ever in terms of rating points.

Kohli, who claimed the top spot for the first time after the opening Test in Birmingham but dropped to second after the Lord’s Test, is now only one point behind a group of four in the all-time list and with a good chance of going past them on current form that has seen him score 440 runs in the series.

The top 10 in the list are Don Bradman (961 points), Steven Smith (947), Len Hutton (945), Jack Hobbs (942), Ricky Ponting (942), Peter May (941), Gary Sobers, Clyde Walcott, Vivian Richards and Sangakkara (all 938 points).

Cheteshwar Pujara remains the second highest ranked India batsman in the list, in sixth position, while Ajinkya Rahane (up four places to 19th), Shikhar Dhawan (up four places to 22nd) and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (up eight places to 51st) have moved up after useful contributions at Trent Bridge.

Pandya has also reached the 51st spot in the bowlers’ rankings, gaining 23 slots to reach his career-best position after a crucial five-wicket haul in the first innings. His fellow fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket haul in England’s second innings has also lifted him to a career-best 37th position after a gain of eight places.

For England, Jos Buttler’s valiant 106 in the second innings has lifted him 22 places to 47th position. Another significant gainer for England in the batsmen’s rankings is Adil Rashid, whose unbeaten 33 in the second innings has seen him gain eight slots to reach 116th position.

Rashid has also gained four slots to reach 47th position among bowlers after grabbing four wickets in the match, while Chris Woakes has inched up one place to 31st position after also finishing with four wickets in the third Test.