DUBAI: India skipper Virat Kohli was on Tuesday pushed to the third spot by Australian batsman Steve Smith in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen, but India’s middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara gained two places to be number eight.
Kohli has 870 points in the latest chart, issued on Tuesday. The India captain had pulled out of the ongoing Australia series after the first Test to go on a paternity leave. He and his wife Anushka were blessed with a baby girl on Monday, the day India eked out a fighting draw in the third Test in Sydney.
Smith (900 points) is placed second behind New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (919). The Australian had scores of 131 and 81 in the Sydney Test.
Williamson’s epic 238 in the second Test against Pakistan in Christchurch has helped him reach the best ever-rating points by a New Zealand player and consolidate his position at the top of the list.
Pujara, whose dogged half-centuries (50 and 77) in the third Test helped India draw the match, is placed eighth, just behind his stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who lost one place.
Rishabh Pant’s scores of 36 and 97 have helped him gain 19 places to reach the 26th position.
Hanuma Vihari (52nd) and Ravichandran Ashwin (89th) too have gained after their fighting knocks, as has Shubman Gill (69th).
Meanwhile, in the bowlers’ list, off-spinner Ashwin dropped two placed to ninth and is followed by compatriot Jasprit Bumrah, who lost one spot. No other Indian figures in the list of top-10 bowlers.
Pat Cummins continues to lead the chart, followed by England pacer Stuart Broad and New Zealand’s Neil Wagner.
—PTI

Press Trust of India