India batter Virat Kohli is coming for the No.1 rank in Test cricket. The batter made substantial gains in the updated ICC Rankings in the longest format of the game. The right-hander moved up three spots and became the 6th ranked batter in the world.
Virat Kohli made the gains after his heroics in the Test series against South Africa. Following his 76 in the first Test in Centurion, he broke into the Top 10 but his knock in the second Test in Cape Town made sure that he moved three spots more up.
Virat Kohli played a knock of 46 runs in the first innings and that inning of his helped him acquire the 6th spot in the ICC rankings. The batter looked in great touch and arguably was the best batter for India in the series.
Virat Kohli will have a great opportunity to go further ahead in the rankings as India have a five-Test series against England coming up. The two teams will be playing against each other from 25th January to 11th March.
Apart from Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma also made a rise in the updated ICC Rankings. The India skipper is now the new No. 10th-ranked batter. The opening batter moved four spots up and broke into the top 10 of the rankings for the Tests.
Pakistan batter Babar Azam after an underwhelming series in Australia dropped two spots and is now No.8 in the rankings. The batter scored just 126 runs across six innings and was one of the biggest disappointments for his team in the Test series.
Australia batted Marnus Labuschagne also jumped three spots to No.4 while his teammate Usman Khawaja dropped four spots down to No.9. The opening batter didn’t have the kind of series he would’ve wanted against Pakistan.
In terms of Test match rankings related to bowling, Ravichandran Ashwin retained his top spot with 863 rankings. Whereas Jasprit Bumrah after his 6-fer in Cape Town jumped one spot to claim the fourth spot. Ravindra Jadeja dropped one spot to No.5.
IND vs ENG: Virat Kohli returns to T20I format after 14 months gap
Virat Kohli will be making a comeback into the Indian T20I team after 14 long months. He was recently named in the Indian squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, set to be played from 11th to 17th January.
Virat Kohli was last seen in T20I colors for India during the T20 World Cup 2022. However, since then has been focusing just on ODIs and the Tests. But with T20 World Cup 2024 around the corner now, the batter is back in the setup and it might be a potential hint that he will be there for the team in the tournament.
The upcoming Afghanistan series will be crucial for Virat Kohli as he would be keen to assert his authority back in the T20Is. All the eyes would be on him when he takes on the field. If he manages to set the stage on fire, there will be no doubt that he will make it into the team for the T20 World Cup 2024, set to be played in the USA and the Caribbean.
