Virat Kohli Maintains Top Spot, Ends 2019 With Number One Position In ICC Test Rankings

Indian skipper Virat Kohli will end the year as the top ranked batsman while Ajinkya Rahane slipped a rung to be seventh in the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Tuesday. Kohli (928) remained 17 points ahead of Australia’s Steve Smith who occupied the second spot while New Zealand skipper Kane Willamson (864) ends the year at number three. Cheteshwar Pujara (791) retained his fourth place but Rahane, who slipped to seventh, was replaced by Pakistan’s Babar Azam.

Azam scored an unbeaten hundred and 60 in the second Test in Karachi against Sri Lanka to move three spots to sixth and achieve his career-best ranking of sixth. Mayank Agarwal and India’s limited overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma wrapped up the top 20 for India, occupying the 12th and 15th spots respectively.

Among the bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, who has been out since the start of the home series against South Africa due to a stress fracture, retained his sixth spot in the list headed by Australia’s Pat Cummins. India’s Ravindra Jadeja, meanwhile, remained at number 2 behind Jason Holder of the West Indies among Test all-rounders. In the ICC World Test Championship, India stand on top with 360 points, way ahead of Australia (216), Pakistan (80), Sri Lanka (80), New Zealand (60) and England (56).

India had a magnificent 2019 in international cricket, winning ODI series in Australia, New Zealand and West Indies. In Tests, they were undefeated at home and they dominated while in T20Is and ODIs, they lost to Australia and drew against South Africa while winning against Bangladesh and West Indies.

Their only low point was the disastrous top order collapse in the semi-final against New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 which saw them getting knocked out. Even during the World Cup, India had topped the table and the dominance was led by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who shattered plenty of records.

Kohli and Rohit established such a level of domination that many other players were left far behind. After the end of the Cuttack ODI that saw India win the match by four wickets and win the series 2-1, Kohli and Rohiit both ended the year on top but with different parameters.

With Kohli and Rohit both hitting fifties in Cuttack, Rohit ended the year as the No.1 batsman in ODIs, finishing with 1490 runs in 28 games at an average of 57 with seven centuries. Kohli was not far behind and he ended with 1377 runs at an average of 59 in 26 games with five centuries.

However, Kohli dominated the other two formats, namely Twenty20 Internationals and Tests. While Rohit managed 556 runs in five Tests at an average of 92, Kohli smashed 612 runs at an average of 58 with a highest individual score of 254 against South Africa in Pune.

Rohit, on the other hand, hit a double ton in Ranchi and a 176 in Vizag. Apart from the 254, Kohli hit 136 in the historic Pink Ball Test. In Twenty20 Internationals, Kohli hit 466 runs while Rohit had 396 runs.

Thus, Kohli ended the year with 2455 runs across all formats while Rohit finished slightly behind with 2442 runs. In terms of average, Kohli dominated Rohit. Kohli averaged 64 while Rohit averaged 53. In terms of centuries, Rohit became the first opener to hit 10 centuries in a year across formats while Kohli managed seven.