Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
Indian captain Virat Kohli has extended his stay at the top of the ICC Test Rankings for batsmen. In the latest rankings released on Monday, Kohli has maintained his numero uno spot with 928 points, while Australian batsman Steve Smith is at second with 911 points.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is at a distant third with 864 points with Cheteshwar Pujara and Marnus Labuschagne following at fourth and fifth with 791 and 786 points respectively.
Labuschagne, who narrowly missed joining the elite list of batsmen who have scored 150 and above in three consecutive innings, has jumped three places to find himself as one of the top five Test batsmen in the world at the moment.
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Babar Azam, who has undoubtedly been Pakistan’s best batsman in across formats in recent times, has gained three spots and displaced Ajinkya Rahane to sit at sixth with 767 points. Indian Test team’s vice-captain Rahane has slipped one position to find himself at seventh with 759 points.
Rahane is followed by Australian batsman David Warner at eighth with 755 points, England skipper Joe Root at ninth with 752 points and Ross Taylor at 10th with 714 points.
In the team’s rankings, India still hold the prime spot with 120 rating points and are followed by New Zealand (112) and South Africa (102). England and Australia sit at fourth and fifth respectively with 102 points.
As far as the ICC World Test Championship is concerned, India sit comfortably at the top with 360 points, while Australia follow them at a distant second with 216 points. However, based on the win percentage ratio and the points won out of points contested percentage, England and New Zealand sit at third and fourth with 56 and 60 points respectively.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka hold the fifth and sixth spots respectively with 80 points.
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