Kohli rises to second spot in Test batsman rankings
What's the story
Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, has leapfrogged David Warner and Cheteshwar Pujara on to second position in the latest ICC Test batsman rankings with 893 points after a marvellous series against Sri Lanka. The right handed batsman finished with 610 runs in just three matches while scoring back to back double hundreds in Nagpur and his career best of 243 in his hometown Delhi.
Prolific
This after 48 months of non stop cricket
The skipper finished 2017 with 1059 Test runs from just 10 matches including 3 double hundreds. Kohli also overtook Brian Lara for most double hundreds as a Test captain. Kohli is now on par with Sachin and Sehwag with 6 double hundreds to his name. Kohli finished the year with 2818 international runs and 11 hundreds across all formats.
Chasing records
Smith stands in Kohli's way
Considering just 28 points separate Kohli from 5th ranked Williamson, the Indian skipper will have to work hard if he has to catch Steve Smith. Number 1 across all formats of the sport has been achieved only twice by Ricky Ponting and Mathew Hayden. With Steve Smith 50 points adrift, it is definitely a challenge the serial record breaker Kohli will be up for.
Rohit stakes claim
Vijay and Rohit gain, Puraja slips
England captain Joe Root is Number 3 on the Test batsman list while India's Cheteshwar Pujara is at 4th position. Opener Murali Vijay jumped 3 spots to 25th and Rohit Sharma, who made a remarkable comeback, spiralled six places on to 40th. Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal moved on to 9th position, up 8 places and Mathews scaled nine spots on to 23rd position.
Bonus motivation
History waits Kohli and his boys
Kohli will next be seen in action in the first test of 2018, which gets underway in South Africa from January 5th. India will be playing in South Africa after four long years and have never won a series in the home of the Proteas. If they win, they would set the world record for 10 wins in a row.
Top dog
The No 1 Test team in the world
Sri Lanka might have drawn the third Test and India clinched the series, but it cost Kohli's side a point in the ICC Test team rankings. But after 9 series wins in row that doesn't seem a concern for Kohli, considering India remain 13 points ahead of South Africa at top of the charts.