Virat Kohli ends England series as world’s highest-ranked batsman

Dubai: India captain Virat Kohli ends the England series as the world’s highest-ranked batsman.

Kohli may have failed in his last innings on the tour, but he has finished as the number-one ranked batsman in world.

He had started the series 27 points behind Australia’s Steve Smith and finished one point ahead of his closest rival.

Kohli had first reached the top of the world after the Edgbaston Test and then reclaimed the top spot after the Trent Bridge Test. He will now defend his number-one ranking in the two-Test home series against the West Indies, which starts on October 4.

India’s Lokesh Rahul and Rishabh Pant have made big gains in the latest rankings update. Rahul has advanced 16 places to 19th position after his knock of 149 and Pant has moved up 63 places to 111th position after his 114 in only his third Test match.

Ravindra Jadeja’s unbeaten 86 in the first innings has helped him gain 12 places to reach 58th among batsmen while he has also moved up one place in the all-rounder’s list to second position.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, England fast bowler James Anderson started and finished the series in number-one ranking. After the Lord’s Test, Anderson reached a career-high 903 points. Anderson started the series with 892 points and finished just one point shy of the coveted 900-point mark.

Other bowlers to make an upward movement after The Oval Test include Ben Stokes (up one place to 27th), Adil Rashid (up six places to 44th) and Sam Curran (up four places to 51st) all advancing after taking three wickets each.

Meanwhile, England have advanced to fourth position in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings. They have gained eight points to move above New Zealand to 105 points and just one point behind South Africa and Australia, who are both on 106 points with the former marginally ahead on decimal points.

India remain the top side in the format but the result has seen them lose 10 points and slip to 115 points. (UNI)