Steve Smith topples Virat Kohli to become new number 1 Test batsman in ICC rankings

However, Kohli’s side are top of the ICC Test Championship with two wins in as many games, and the captain himself overtook MS Dhoni to be India’s most successful Test skipper.

Former Australian captain Steve Smith has reclaimed the number 1 spot in the latest ICC Test rankings. He has toppled Indian captain Virat Kohli from the perch after Kohli was dismissed for a first-ball duck in the second innings of the Jamaica Test match. However, Kohli’s India are top of the ICC Test Championship with two wins in as many games, and the captain himself overtook MS Dhoni to be India’s most successful Test skipper. However, having made 76 in the first innings against West Indies, he was dismissed by Kemar Roach in the second-innings of the Jamaica Test match.

Steve Smith overtook Virat Kohli in Test rankings (HT Collage)

That allowed Smith, who missed the third Test at Headingley, to open up a single-point lead in the rankings announced on Tuesday, 3 September. He has a chance to extend that lead in the fourth Ashes Test, starting Wednesday.

The Australian No.4 has fought his way back up the charts in his first series back from the ban, making twin centuries in the first Test against England and 92 in the second. He now averages 63.2 in Test cricket.

Kohli’s next chance to challenge Smith will be in the home Test series against South Africa, starting on 2 October.

Elsewhere on the batting charts, India’s Ajinkya Rahane returned to the top 10, rising four places to No.7, after following up his half-century and hundred in Antigua with another useful half-century in Jamaica. Hanuma Vihari, described by Kohli as “the find of the series”, shot up 40 places to No.30 after just six Tests.