ICC rankings: India maintain top spot despite WTC final defeat; Kane Williamson retains No 1 position – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Despite losing the World Test Championship (WTC) final to Australia in June, Team India continue to maintain top spot in the latest ICC Test rankings released on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, India now have 121 rating points, with Australia just behind with 116. England (114), South Africa (104) and New Zealand complete the top five.

Australia are leading the five-match Ashes series 2-0, with wins at Edgbaston and Lord’s. The third Test begins at Headingley from Thursday (6 July).

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India, meanwhile, will kickstart their World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle with a two-match series against West Indies in the Caribbean, starting from 12 July.

Ravichandran Ashwin also held on to his world No 1 spot among bowlers. The senior off-spinner has 860 points and is followed by Australia skipper Pat Cummins, who has moved two spots to second with 826 points.

Another Indian who has remained static on number one is Ravindra Jadeja, who leads the all-rounders’ list with 434 points.

While Ashwin too remains on the second spot, Axar Patel has dropped to fifth among all-rounders.

Rishabh Pant, who has been out of action since his car accident in December last year, is the top-ranked Indian batter at number 10. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli occupy the 12th and 14th spots respectively.

Shubman Gill is ranked fifth in the ODI rankings while Kohli (eighth) and Rohit (10th) are the other two Indian batters in the top 10.

Mohammed Siraj is the lone Indian in the top 10 in the bowling chart at number two.

Smith surges ahead but Williamson tops Test rankings

Former England Test skipper Root has slipped to fifth position, allowing Williamson to regain the top spot.

This is the sixth stint at the top for Williamson, who first attained number one position in November 2015 and was last at the top in August 2021.

Australia batter Steve Smith has made rapid progress towards the top of the Test rankings after the second England-Australia Test at Lord’s.

Smith’s ‘player of the match’ effort of 110 and 34 has lifted him four places to second position.

Smith was last at the top in June 2021, when he had replaced Williamson for a couple of weeks before being overtaken again by the New Zealand batter.

The race for the top positions in the list is bound to remain interesting in the coming days as Smith is just one point behind Williamson’s 883 rating points after the latest weekly update, while third-placed Marnus Labuschagne (873) and Travis Head are also separated by just one point.

England batter Ben Duckett has shot up 24 places to reach the top 20 for the first time in his career after scores of 98 and 83 in the second Ashes Test while his captain Ben Stokes is up nine places to 23rd after a valiant 155 in the second innings.

With inputs from PTI

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