After registering a career best test score of 235 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai against England, Indian captain Virat Kohli jumped a place to be on the second spot of the Reliance ICC Test batsmen rankings. The Delhi dasher is second only to Australian captain and run machine Steve Smith in the ICC test batsman’s rankings. Kohli displaced England star Joe Root from the second slot, and the latter now is seated on the third spot, above New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.
Kohli had a memorable game at Mumbai, as he went on to play a marathon knock of 235 off just 340 deliveries to bat England out of the game. Thanks to Kohli’s vigil in the middle, India gained a 231 runs first innings lead, before winning the test by an innings and 36 runs. By the virtue of the colossal victory, India also wrapped up the series with just the last match left at Chennai.
With 886 batting points to his credit, Kohli now stands only behind New South Wales lad Steve Smith, who tops the list with 897 points. Another good game at Chennai, where if Kohli probably scores another ton, could mean his arrival at the top spot for the first time in his career.
Post India’s win at Mumbai, Kohli admitted that his side wasn’t too flustered about any individual milestones. “One thing that I really wanted the team to do was express themselves in Test matches and not think about personal performances,” Kohli said. “Because a lot of the times, you have an hour in the Test match where you can take the game away and you are still not willing to go for it because you are close to your milestone or things like that. These are the things that we have gotten out of our system completely.”
| Position | Player | Team | Ratings |
| 1 | Steve Smith | Australia | 897 |
| 2 | Virat Kohli | India | 886 |
| 3 | Joe Root | England | 854 |
| 4 | Kane Williamson | New Zealand | 817 |
| 5 | Hashim Amla | South Africa | 791 |
| 6 | AB De Villiers | South Africa | 778 |
| 7 | David Warner | Australia | 772 |
| 8 | Cheteshwar Pujara | India | 756 |
| 9 | Younis Khan | Pakistan | 753 |
| 19 | Jonny Bairstow | England | 751 |
*Note: The above table is updated up to 13th December 2016