Steve Smith reclaims No 1 Test ranking from Virat Kohli
Meanwhile, India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane who hit an unbeaten half-century in Sabina Park has returned to the top 10, moving up four places to No 7.
SNS | New Delhi | September 3, 2019 4:09 pm
Steve Smith has reclaimed the No 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen from Virat Kohli, who dropped down the list after his first-ball duck in Jamaica against the West Indies.
Smith was on the top spot since December 2015. It was only in August 2018, when the Australian was serving a ban for his role in the Newlands ball-tampering incident, that Kohli overtook him on the charts, after reaching career-high rating points in the series against England.
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However, the No 4 batsman Smith has fought his way back up the charts in his first series back from the ban, making twin centuries in the first Test against England and 92 in the second. He now averages 63.24 in Test cricket.
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Meanwhile, India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane who hit an unbeaten half-century in Sabina Park has returned to the top 10, moving up four places to No 7. Hanuma Vihari, who hit his maiden double century in the same match, has risen 40 places to No 30 in the batting charts.
Jasprit Bumrah and Jason Holder, both of whom picked up fifers in the first innings of their respective teams in the Jamaica Test, have also gained places in the bowler’s rankings, moving up to No 3 and No 4, respectively. The two now stand behind only Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood on the list.
Former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday compared wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant at par with England’s Joe Root and Australia’s Steve Smith as the best batters in the last seven years, when batting has become “significantly difficult and averages have decreased.”
The Kohli family along with their two children -- Vamika and Akaay -- visited the Ashram in Uttar Pradesh and took the blessings of the sant. They stayed in the ashram for 30 minutes.
Sam Konstas’ on-field confrontations with India’s talismanic duo of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah in his debut series certainly helped him become an overnight sensation with his social media numbers storming by 30,000 per cent. The 19-year-old, who made his debut in the penultimate Test of the five-match rubber in Melbourne, opened up on his on-field spat with Kohli and Bumrah, while effusing praises on the Indian cricket stalwarts.