ICC Rankings: Kane Williamson jumps ahead of Smith, Kohli to take the top spot
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has snatched the top spot in the latest ICC Men’s Test batsmen rankings after his heroic performance in the first Test against Pakistan in Tauranga. The classy batsman has leapfrogged Australia’s Steve Smith and India’s Virat Kohli to take the number one position.
In 2015, Willamson did reach the coveted position albeit too briefly. Since then, Kohli and Smith had not allowed anyone else to take the number one spot. This year too, Smith led the rankings for 313 days while Kohli did it for 51 days. But now Williamson has surged ahead of them to finish the year as the best Test batsman.
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Williamson gained 13 rating points for his effort of 129 and 21 in the Test against Pakistan to go 11 points clear of Kohli and 13 ahead of Smith. While Kohli is on paternity leave, Smith has lost his tremendous form with the bat.
Ajinkya Rahane, leading in Kohli’s absence, stuck a magnificent 112 at the MCG which also saw him winning the Player of the Match award. The middle-order batsman has jumped five places to take the sixth position, just one below his career-best of fifth attained in October 2019.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (up two places to seventh) and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (up one place to ninth) have made notable gains within the top 10. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is still the third among all-rounders but has reduced the gap of 34 points with Jason Holder to seven points.
