India captain Virat Kohli on Sunday replaced Australia’s Steve Smith at the top of International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Ranking for Test batsmen, following his tally of 200 runs in the opening test against England at Edgbaston.
#FLASH | Virat Kohli is now the number one batsman in #ICC Test batting ranking, he overtook Australia's Steve Smith pic.twitter.com/rkIWYSt7ko
— NEWS LIVE (@NewsLiveGhy) August 5, 2018
Kohli scored his 22nd Test Century with a knock of 149 in the first innings and followed it up with 51 in the second. It earned him a career-high 934 ratings point, leaving Smith behind at 929 points. The former Australia captain is currently serving a 12-month ban for his involvement in a ball-tampering scandal during Australia’s tour of South Africa earlier this year.
KOHLI IS NO.1@imVkohli has overtaken Steve Smith to become the new No.1 batsman in @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Rankings.
He is the first Indian since @sachin_rt to get there.
READ ⬇️https://t.co/Hw7OCimIKw pic.twitter.com/s8h4fNmJYK
— ICC (@ICC) August 5, 2018
Sachin Tendulkar was the last Indian batsman to be ranked No.1 Test batsman back in 2011. Besides Tendulkar and Kohli, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have been the other Indian batsmen to achieve the top spot in ICC Test Rankings.
