In the ICC Test Rankings updated on Friday, Virat Kohli remained on top of the list. Chesteshwar Pujara also retained his sixth place while Ajinkya Rahane saw a slight improvement in his ranking as he now finds himself at the eighth spot.
Notably, the rankings have been updated after the Port Elizabeth Test which England won by an innings and 53 runs to take a lead of 2-1 in the four-match Test Series against South Africa. Ben Stokes, who played a match-winning knock of 120 runs, has equalled his career-best second ranking in the all-rounder list.
Stokes regained the second spot after reaching there in August last year. He is presently ranked 10th in the batsmen list and 29th among bowlers. Dominic Bess has taken a jump of 49 places after his five-wicket haul to finish on 62. Curran, Jack Leach and Stuart Broad have all gained a spot each in the bowlers’ list.
Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews also advanced eight spots to reach the 16th place in batsmen rankings after he scored an unbeaten double hundred in the Harare Test to help his side win by 10 wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series against Zimbabwe.
Mathews career-best ranking was third which he achieved way back in 2014. In addition, he has also been among the top 10 batsmen in ODIs.
India’s next Test series will be against New Zealand in New Zealand. India are scheduled to play a couple of Tests against the Kiwis with the first Test beginning on 21 February.
(With inputs from IANS)