Indian Test captain Virat Kohli has a lot to look forward to and prove in the upcoming series against South Africa as he continued to slip in the ICC Test rankings. In the latest rankings for Test batters, Kohli slipped a notch to be placed seventh. India’s newly appointed limited-overs captain Rohit Sharma, who will miss the Test series due to a hamstring injury, remained on the fifth spot. There has also been a big change at the top of the rankings as Australian middle-order batter Marnus Labuschagne has taken over the number 1 spot after good performances in the first two Ashes Test matches. England captain Joe Root, who has dominated the rankings this year, has slipped to the second spot.
Indian spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin is still in second place behind Australia skipper Pat Cummins in the Test rankings for bowlers. Kohli, who played the second Test against New Zealand, was earlier placed sixth and now with 756 points is in seventh position. Labuschagne has climbed to the top of the ICC rankings for batters for the very first time after sensational performances in the two matches of the Ashes so far.
With career-best 912 rating points, he went past Root (897), who has dropped to the second spot.
Ranked fourth before the series, Labuschagne rose two spots to No.2 after scoring 74 in Australia’s win in the Brisbane Test. In the second Test at Adelaide, he scored a hundred and fifty (103 and 51) as Australia routed England by 275 runs to go 2-0 up in the Ashes.
His teammate Mitchell Starc broke into the top 10 for Test bowlers after returning figures of 6/80 in the second Test, which included a four-for in the first innings that helped reduce England to 236. He moves up to the 9th spot.
