AB de Villiers and Kane Williamson drop down in ICC Test batsmen rankings

AB de Villiers moved down two places to No.3 in ICC Test batsmen rankings

Australia's Steven Smith and England’s Joe Root are now joint-top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test batsmen rankings, after AB de Villiers disappointing return in the third India-South Africa Test in Nagpur.

AB though can reclaim top spot with a good showing in the final Test in New Delhi, as he only trails Smith and Root by nine points. Kane Williamson, who moved to a career-high ranking of second following the Perth Test, dropped down to fourth place.

The top three is where all the reschuffling has been happening as far as the batsmen are concerned, with Root, Smith and AB all occupying the top spot at various points during the last month. For now though, Smith’s fifty in the first innings of the Day-Night has propelled him to first place.

Despite losing 18 points, David Warner remained in fifth place and the rest of the top 10 don’t throw up many surprises. Outside the top ten is where all the places are being exchanged.

Murali Vijay is India’s top ranked batsmen at No.12, but behind him, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli are now in 15th and 16th respectively. While Pujara dropped down a place from 14th, Kohli moved up a place.

Two other Indian batsmen also moved up the rankings. Shikhar Dhawan moved up one place into 32nd while wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha has moved up 10 places for a career-high ranking of 92nd.

The first Day-Night Test in Adelaide, although dominated by bowlers also saw a few batsmen move up the rankings. The biggest gainers were Mitchell Starc and Peter Nevill. Starc, who wants to postpone surgery on his fractured right foot, climbed up five places to 73rd while Nevill is the highest mover overall as he moved up to 79th, up 22 places.

There were also gains for New Zealand opener Tom Latham, who moved up to 35th after his fifty in the first innings of the Adelaide Test, debutant Mitchell Santer who is now in 66th place after a composed debut where he scored 31 and 45 and Australia’s Shaun Marsh, who moved up eight places and is now in 56th.

The only change in the top five all-rounders is the arrival of Mitchell Starc into fifth place, his career-best position.

Following their 2-0 win over New Zealand, Australia moved into second in the ICC Test Championship with 109 points. If India win the final Test, they have an opportunity to move into second with 110 points, with the Proteas lead at the top being cut to just four points.

Ranking	Player	Points
1	Joe Root	886
2	Steven Smith	886
3	AB de Villiers	877
4	Kane Williamson	876
5	David Warner	862
6	Angelo Mathews	851
7	Hashim Amla	836
8	Younis Khan	826
9	Alastair Cook	803
10	Ross Taylor	787