India captain and top-order batsman Virat Kohli, South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan have maintained their numero uno positions in the year-end International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Player rankings which was announced on Monday.
"Kohli dropped three points despite a first innings score of 82 in the third Test in Melbourne, but still enjoys a 34-point lead over Kane Williamson," ICC said in a statement.
The 30-year-old attained a career-high 937 points during the year, which is the highest ever by an India batsman. The right-handed batsman scored 1322 runs in all. Kohli overtook Steven Smith in August and has now held the top position for 135 days.
Advertisement
Rabada split the top ranking with England's seasoned fast bowler James Anderson during the year. The South African is just six points ahead of the most successful pacer in the history.
Rabada, 23, became the youngest to take top position among bowlers during the year and held the spot for 178 days in 2018. He finished the year with 52 wickets in 10 Tests.
Former Aussie captain Smith, who is serving a ban, is in the third spot ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara. The Indian batsman maintained the fourth position after a first-innings century in Melbourne.
Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has gained 10 slots to reach a career-best 38th position. Debutant opener Mayank Agarwal has entered the batsmen's list at an impressive 67th place after scores of 76 and 42 that helped his side win by 137 runs for a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
Advertisement
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah has moved from 28th to 12th after his match haul of nine for 86, the best-ever by an India seam bowler in Australia. He is now the highest-ranked India fast bowler in the format with Mohammed Shami next in 23rd position.
For Australia, Pat Cummins has been the pick, gaining five slots to reach a career-best third position after finishing with nine wickets in the match. He has also gained 13 slots to reach 91st place among batsmen with some useful runs down the order. Travis Head (up seven places to 56th) has also benefitted in the latest rankings update.
New Zealand fast bowlers have a lot to cheer about following their record 423-run win over Sri Lanka in Christchurch. Trent Boult's nine wickets in the match have helped him gain seven slots to reach the seventh position while Tim Southee (up two places to ninth) and Neil Wagner (up one place to 15th) have also moved up.
Century-makers at Christchurch, Henry Nicholls (up two places to seventh) and Tom Latham (up eight places to 14th), and Jeet Raval (up two places to 35th) have also gained in the latest rankings update.
For South Africa, former captain Hashim Amla (up three places to 11th place) and Temba Bavuma (up four places to 31st) have gained among batsmen while fast bowler Duanne Olivier has gained 17 places to reach 36th position after his player of the match effort of 11 wickets.
Advertisement
Pakistan's Babar Azam has gained nine slots to reach 27th position after innings of 71 and six while left-arm fast bowlers Mohammad Amir (up two places to 34th) and Shaheen Afridi (up 38 places to 73rd) have advanced after taking four and five wickets in Centurion.
In the all-rounder's ranking, Shakib remained the top player, ahead of Jason Holder of the West Indies and Ravindra Jadeja of India.
Meanwhile, New Zealand (107) have leapfrogged South Africa by a single rating point to take third place in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings after starting the series against Sri Lanka with a chance of going up to the second position with a 2-0 win.
Advertisement
England (108) are second, behind India by eight rating points.
