The respective skippers of India and New Zealand, who are set to take each other in the WTC Final that is scheduled to take place in Southampton, will have similar feelings after looking at the latest ICC Test rankings. While Williamson was dethroned from his numero uno position by Australia’s Steve Smith, Kohli gained one spot to replace England’s Joe Root.
With 814 points, Kohli rose to number four as Root had an ordinary series against New Zealand. Meanwhile Kohli has got company in top ten with Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma alongside him. The reason Williamson slipped in the rankings is his omission from the playing eleven in the second Test against England. He scored 13 in the drawn first Test. This helped Smith who now has 891 points to his name.
Ashwin is the lone Indian in the top 10.
West Indies’ Jason Holder retained his top position in the Test all-rounder rankings with 412 rating points. India’s Ravindra Jadeja (386 points) and Ashwin (353) are second and fourth respectively.
Kiwi pacer Matt Henry’s player of the match performance has lifted him to a career-best 307 points and 64th position while Ajaz Patel too is at a career-high points tally of 323. Devon Conway continues his good run and is in joint-61st position.
The rankings update also includes performances from the first Test between South Africa and the West Indies in St Lucia. Quinton de Kock finds himself in joint-12th position with Cheteshwar Pujara while his compatriot Adrian Markram has advanced two slots to reach 14th position.
De Kock has gained 11 positions to attain his highest position since December 2019.
Formerly top-ranked Kagiso Rabada has gained two spots to reach seventh place after a five-wicket haul in the second innings, Anrich Nortje is up into the top 30 for the first time in his career, while Lungi Ngidi is up 14 places to 44th position with a first-innings five-wicket haul.
Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here