Virat Kohli suffers worst fall in 10 years after NZ horror, slips out of top-20 in Test rankings; Rishabh Pant goes 6th
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Rishabh Pant and Daryl Mitchell have stormed back into the top 10 of the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings following impressive performances in the final Test of their respective ICC World Test Championship series. Pant, the star Indian wicketkeeper, climbed five slots to secure sixth place after scores of 60 and a gritty 64 in the tense chase of 147.
He now stands just one position away from his career-best fifth rank, which he last held in July 2022. New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell, who was ranked third in September, advanced eight spots to seventh after scoring 82 and 21 in a challenging series finale.
India’s Shubman Gill made strides as well, his 90 in the first innings pushing him up to 16th. However, not all Indian batters found fortune in the latest update. Yashaswi Jaiswal dropped to fourth, and former captain Virat Kohli fell out of the top 20 Test batters for the first time since December 2014, ending an impressive near-decade run among the elite. Kohli is now placed 22nd in the rankings, suffering a fall of 8 places.
Kohli has had a torrid outing in Test cricket since making his comeback to the format last month during the series against Bangladesh. He scored only one half-century across five home Tests, and scored only 93 runs during the entire series against the Kiwis. Kohli, as well as Rohit's poor form have ignited concerns over India's chances at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which begins later this month.
Jadeja advances, India slip
On the bowling front, India’s Ravindra Jadeja and New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel delivered standout performances at Wankhede Stadium. Jadeja’s third 10-wicket haul lifted him from eighth to sixth place, surpassing the 800-point threshold. Ajaz Patel, the Player of the Match, jumped 12 places to a career-best 22nd after his 11-wicket performance.
In the World Test Championship standings, India’s 3-0 series loss to New Zealand has resulted in a slip to second, with Australia now taking the lead in the race based on percentage points. South Africa and New Zealand have strengthened their standings, with the top five teams—Australia (62.50%), India (58.33%), Sri Lanka (55.56%), New Zealand (54.55%), and South Africa (54.17%)—locked in tight competition for qualification as seven series remain in the third edition.
