Fresh Blow To Virat Kohli After Poor Outing vs New Zealand, Hits 10-Year Low To Go Below Babar Azam Too | Cricket News

Virat Kohli‘s scores in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand read 0, 70, 1, 17, 4, 1. And the reflection of that performance is clear on his ICC Test ranking. Courtesy his scores of 4 and 1 in the Mumbai Test that India lost, Kohli has dropped down eight places to 22nd. This is the India star’s lowest in over 10 years. In August 2014, he was ranked 24th after a lean tour of England.

Now in the batting ranking, Kohli is below modern day Test greats Joe Root (No. 1), Kane Williamson (No. 2) and Steve Smith (No. 5). Kohli is below Babar Azam (No. 17) and Mohammd Rizwan (NO. 20) as well.  

Meanwhile, India wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant on Wednesday rose five places to sixth spot in the latest ICC Men’s Test Batter Rankings following his strong performance in a losing cause in third Test against New Zealand in Mumbai last week. Pant made the jump on the back of a pair of half-centuries during the Mumbai Test, in a sure sign that he is back to his best following a serious car accident, with the attacking left-hander now just one spot behind the career-best fifth position he first occupied in July 2022.

The other Indian batter in top Test batter’s chart is young left-handed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who dropped a rung to fourth.

New Zealand secured a narrow 25-run victory in Mumbai to claim an unprecedented 3-0 series whitewash over India, with Pant and visiting side’s Daryl Mitchell the main beneficiaries in the top 10 Test batter rankings.

Mitchell jumped eight places to seventh after scoring 82 in the first innings against India in the Mumbai Test, joining teammate Kane Williamson (second) as the only New Zealanders inside the top-10.

England right-hander Joe Root maintained his healthy lead at the top of the list, with Williamson, Harry Brook (third), Jaiswal (fourth) and Steve Smith (fifth) his closest challengers.

India’s Shubman Gill (up four places to 16th) also makes some ground on the list for Test batters following a score of 90 in the first innings against New Zealand in Mumbai, while player-of-the-series Will Young of New Zealand gained 29 spots to move to 44th overall.

Ravindra Jadeja climbed two spots to sixth in the Test bowler rankings after taking 10 wickets against New Zealand, placing him just behind top-ranked Kagiso Rabada.

Australia’s Josh Hazlewood occupied the second spot ahead of India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Teammate Washington Sundar jumped seven places to move to 46th on the same list for Test bowlers, while spin duo Ajaz Patel (up 12 places to 22nd) and Ish Sodhi (up three rungs to equal 70th) are among the gainers from New Zealand.

With PTI inputs