Rohit Sharma has reached a career best 17th position in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings, which were released at the start of this week. That followed his exploits in the first test against South Africa last week, when he became the first player to score a century in each innings of his maiden Test as an opening batsman.
Rohit, who now has five test centuries after that match, moved up 36 places in the rankings after his scores of 176 and 127 Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam helped India win by 203 runs and take a 1-0 lead in their three-match series.
Meanwhile, fellow opener, Mayank Agarwal, who scored 215 in the first innings, also reached a career best 25th position, moving up from his previous ranking of 63.
Meanwhile, captain Virat Kohli, whilst he retained his second place overall, dropped below the 900 point mark for the first time since January 2018, after scores of 20 and 31 not out in the same match. He is now on 899 points, trailing his great rival, Steve Smith of Australia, by 38 points.
On the bowling front, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has returned to the top ten after taking eight wickets in the match, including seven for 145 in South Africa’s first innings. Formerly the top-ranked bowler in the world, Ashwin has also moved in to the top five of all-rounders.
His colleague, fast bowler Mohammed Shami has risen two places in the rankings to 16th, having attained a career-best 710 points, whilst Ravindra Jadeja has moved into second place on the list of all-rounders, leap-frogging Bangladesh’s Shakib Al-Hasan in the process.
Two batsmen from their opponents, Quinton de Kock, and Dean Elgar, have also moved up the rankings, after both scored centuries last week. De Kock has climbed four places, back in to the top ten at seventh, whilst Elgar is now in 14th position, jumping five spots.
In terms of the ICC World Championship table, the win in Visakhapatnam earned India 40 points, and they have a clear lead, with 160 points in total, having claimed full 120 points from the two-nil series win in the West Indies.
Behind them come New Zealand and Sri Lanka who have 60 points apiece, after their 1-1 series draw, while Australia and England are on 56 each with their 2-2 series draw in a five-match series.
India batsmen and bowlers have a chance to enhance their rankings even further in the Second Test which starts on Thursday in Pune.
