India captain Virat Kohli lost the No1 ranking for Test batsmen after an ordinary second Test against England in which his team lost by an innings and 159 runs.
Kohli had snatched the top spot from Australia batsman Steve Smith after a sensational match in Birmingham where he scored 200 runs in all. But in the second Test at Lord’s – where he only managed 23 and 17 – against a rampant England pace attack, Kohli slipped down to second position on 919 points – 10 behind Smith.
There was some positive news for Ravi Ashwin the batsman as he moved up from 67th to 57th position after gritty knocks of 29 and 33 not out at Lord’s.
England players, understandably, made huge gains in the points table. James Anderson became only the seventh England bowler and the first in 38 years from his country to cross the 900-point mark in the Test ranking for bowlers after sensational match-figures of 9-43 at the ‘Home of Cricket’.
England’s all-round hero Chris Woakes, who hit an unbeaten 137 and snared four wickets in the match, gained 34 places to reach a career-best 50th position among batsmen. He also jumped three places to be 32nd among bowlers and five places to seventh among all-rounders.
Wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow continued his rise in the batting table as another match-winning fifty – 93 at Lord’s after 70 in Birmingham – saw him back to the top-10 in the ninth spot.
