ICC Test Rankings | Kohli retains top spot; Labuschagne reaches career-best third

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has retained his number one spot among batsmen in the latest ICC Test Rankings. Kohli with 928 points is ahead of Australian ace Steve Smith (911 points), ICC mentioned in a statement.

After a fantastic start to 2020 with his maiden double hundred, Marnus Labuschagne jumped one spot higher behind Kohli and Smith in third place which is his career-best ranking. He scored 549 runs in the series against New Zealand which capped off a fantastic summer for the Queenslander.

Cheteshwar Pujara dropped down one position into sixth with 791 points while fellow Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane dropped two places down to ninth with 759 points.

Amongst the bowlers, Australian speedster Pat Cummins grabbed the top spot (904 points) ahead of Neil Wagner (852 points) and Jason Holder (830 points). Mitchell Starc picked up 29 wickets in the recently-concluded Australian Summer and has reached a career-best equalling fifth spot which he had last reached in March 2018.

Fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and James Anderson make significant gains in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's Test Player Rankings for bowlers 🙌Full rankings: https://t.co/OMjjVwOboH pic.twitter.com/sbBsi1wBYZ

— ICC (@ICC) January 8, 2020

Despite the long injury lay-off due to a stress fracture in the back, Jasprit Bumrah still held on to his sixth place with 794 points. Fellow Indian bowlers Ravichandran Ashwin (772 points) and Mohammed Shami (771 points) bagged ninth and tenth place respetively.

England's Ben Stokes has entered the top 10 in the batsmen's rankings after scores of 47 and a brilliant 47-ball 72 against South Africa in the second Test. In the same Test, James Anderson picked up a record 28th five-wicket haul of his Test career and has entered the top 10 among the bowlers.