Indian captain Virat Kohli, who scored a first ball duck against West Indies in the second innings of the second Test in Jamaica, has lost his number 1 ranking to Australian maestro Steve Smith. Kohli scored 76 in the first innings and is yet to add to his 25 Test hundreds this year.
Smith has in the on-going Ashes been in a thorn in the flesh for the English bowlers with two consecutive centuries in Edgbaston before following that up with 92 in Lord’s, where he had to sit out the second innings due to the lingering effects of a concussion.
This has allowed Smith, who returns to the Australian team for the fourth Test in Old Trafford, to open up a one point lead over the Indian captain according to the latest rankings. Smith will undoubtedly be looking to score big again and extend his lead at the top of the charts.
Smith was on the top spot his since December 2015. It was only in August 2018, when Smith was serving a ban for his role in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, that Kohli overtook him on the charts, after reaching career-high rating points in the series against England.
Kohli will have to wait until October when South Africa visit India for a Test series before he can challenge Smith again.
Elsewhere on the batting charts, India’s Ajinkya Rahane returned to the top 10, rising four places to No.7, after following up his half-century and hundred in Antigua with another useful half-century in Jamaica. Hanuma Vihari, described by Kohli as “the find of the series”, shot up 40 places to No.30 after just six Tests.
Amongst the bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah’s impressive showing in the West Indies series, where he became the third Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket in Jamaica, has seen him move up four places to third spot among the bowlers. Bumrah, who was the player-of-the-series, finished with 13 wickets to his name in the two Tests.
