As the year and the decade is bidding goodbye, the top spot in Test batsmen rankings is rightfully occupied by Virat Kohli. The Team India talisman has been tremendous in the format for the last 12 months, and with a staggering rating of 928, the skipper is now the world no. 1 in the ICC Test batting rankings.
Back in the beginning of December, Kohli reached the top spot, overtaking the previous no. 1 Steve Smith, who was rated 923 at the time. While the former Aussie captain has dropped his ratings to 911, Kohli has retained his own ratings.
🚨 RANKINGS UPDATE 🚨
With his enterprising 95 against 🏴, Quinton de Kock not only set up 🇿🇦's win, but also shot into the top 🔟 of the @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Rankings for batsmen! pic.twitter.com/oY5l7TuU7p
— ICC (@ICC) December 30, 2019
Since his test debut in June 2011 against West Indies, Kohli has earned an astounding 269 caps for the Men in Blues in test cricket, and has scored a monumental 7202 runs with a batting average of 54.97 in the format.
The 31 year old’s marvellous achievement came after brilliant spells against South Africa and Bangladesh. In the historical pink ball test match at Eden Gardens earlier this month, Kohli scored a brilliant century against Bangladesh.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain has eclipsed the previous leader Smith. The 30 year old, who rose to the top spot after a marvellous gig in the Ashes this year, fell back the pecking order after a mediocre performance in Pakistan’s test tour of Australia.
However, both Kohli and Smith are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the top 10. Kane Williamson, the captain of New Zealand, is trailing behind for 89 points with a rating of 822. Two other Indians hitters have also retained a spot in the top 10 list. Cheteshwar Pujara is in 5th place with a rating of 791, and Ajinkya Rahane is jointly occupying 7th positing along with David Warner, both sharing a rating of 759.
Last week, Kohli was named the captain of Cricket Australia’s Test team of the decade, and was the only Indian to be featured in the lineup.
“Kohli has dominated spin and pace of all kinds in all conditions. He has multiple hundreds against all the Test nations he has faced,” Adam Burnett, a feature writer and editor for cricket.com.au wrote.
Aussie cricketing legend Ricky Ponting has also made Kohli the leader of his Test team of the decade. Earlier today, the 2003 World Cup winner listed his test XI on Twitter.
Everyone's picking teams of the decade so I thought I'd join in the fun. This would be my Test team of the 2010's:
David Warner
Alastair Cook
Kane Williamson
Steve Smith
Virat Kohli (c)
Kumar Sangakkarra (wk)
Ben Stokes
Dale Steyn
Nathan Lyon
Stuart Broad
James Anderson— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) December 30, 2019
Also read-
Virat Kohli usurps Steve Smith to claim number 1 spot in ICC Test ranking