Following his remarkable series with the bat against Sri Lanka, India’s Virat Kohli has made a huge jump in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen.
The 29-year-old has risen from the sixth spot to now occupy the No.2 position in the rankings behind Australian skipper Steve Smith.
Kohli score a stupendous 610 runs in five innings in the three-match series at a staggering average of 152.50 to take the man-of-the-series award. He had recorded back-to-back double tons in India’s 1-0 win to overtake Brian Lara’s record of five double tons as Test skipper.
No other Indian batsmen apart from the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag have more than Kohli’s six double hundreds in the format.
The Indian skipper is already perched at the top spot in ICC’s rankings for the ODI and T20I batsmen.
The Delhi-born man has had a dream 2017 with the bat where he has scored 2,818 runs in international cricket with the help of 11 tons across all formats.
BREAKING: @imVkohli moves up to second in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Batting Rankings!https://t.co/n17MBstqrS pic.twitter.com/GHHynglGQd
— ICC (@ICC) December 7, 2017
The Indian batsman now lies ahead of his English counterpart Joe Root in the Test rankings with team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara maintaining his fourth spot.
Kohli now has 893 ranking points, 45 behind Smith who has 938 points. He leapfrogged David Warner, Kane Williamson, Pujara and Root in the course of the series.
Only former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has held the top spots in all formats simultaneously in the history of the game while his compatriot Mathew Hayden has done it on separate occasions.
Kohli has never taken the No.1 spot in the Test rankings in his career so far.
India meanwhile continue to lead the team rankings with 124 points, 13 ahead of South Africa whom they visit for a bilateral series at the end of the year.
