Indian skipper Virat Kohli has dethroned the 'disgraced' Australian player Steve Smith to become the number one Test batsman as per the new MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, released on Sunday morning after the conclusion of the Edgbaston Test between India and England.
With this, Kohli became the seventh Indian player overall and first after Sachin Tendulkar in 2011 to achieve the milestone.
Kohli had scored 149 and 51 in India’s 31-run defeat against England in the first of the five-Test series. Kohli scored total 200 runs in the Edgbaston Test that helped him go up by 31 points to end Steve Smith’s 32-month reign as the top-ranked batsman.
Kohli is now five rating points ahead of Smith, who is facing one year ban for cheating. But if the Indian skipper maintained his form in the remaining four Tests, he would finish the series as world’s highest-ranked batsman.
Before Kohli, Indian great Sachin Tendulkar had joined South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis in number-one position in January 2011. He, however, dropped to the second place after he had missed the three-Test series against the West Indies.
Apart from Kohli, and Sachin, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Dilip Vengsarkar who had achieved the milestone in their cricketing career.
Here is the complete list of top 10 Test batsmen (MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings)
- Virat Kohli       Ind      934!  Â
- Steve Smith    Aus     929  Â
- Joe Root         Eng     865
- Kane Williamson NZÂ Â Â Â 847
- David Warner  Aus     820 Â
- C. Pujara         Ind      791
- D. Karunaratne SLÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â 754!
- D. Chandimal  SL       733
- Dean Elgar      SA      724
- Aiden Markram SAÂ Â Â Â Â Â 703*
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