Marnus Labuschagne, who scored the first century of the year 2020, is moving rapidly towards the top of the ICC Ranking. He has moved closer to the No.1 ranking thanks to his brilliant performance against New Zealand. However, the kingdom of Virat Kohli is not threatened at least for now. The Indian captain remains number-1 in the latest rankings. The ICC has released the test rankings on Wednesday.
Virat Kohli continues to hold the first position in the list of batsmen in the ICC Test Ranking. Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne has reached a career-best ranking of number three. He scored 215 and 59 in the third Test against New Zealand. The 25-year-old scored 549 runs in the three-match series against New Zealand. He is the only batsman to score a double century in 2020.
Captain Virat Kohli holds the top with 928 points. Labuschagne’s teammate Steven Smith is at number two with 911 points. Marnus Labuschagne is third with 827 points. Kane Williamson (814) of New Zealand is fourth and David Warner (793) of Australia is at number five.
Apart from Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are the only Indian batsmen who are present in the top-10. Their rankings, however, have dropped and they have slipped to number six and ninth respectively. Ben Stokes of England has jumped five places to reach number 10. Babar Azam of Pakistan is at seventh and Joe Root of England is at number eight.
Australia no longer has to play Test matches for the next few months. On the other hand, India will play two Test matches in February. Thus it can be said that Marnus Labuschagne will not be able to challenge Kohli at least right now. But the way he has performed in a year and has made a quantum jump in the ranking. From this, it is certain that when he plays a Test match, he can challenge most of the veterans including Virat Kohli.
In the bowlers’ list, Pat Cummins of Australia and Neil Wagner of New Zealand continue in the first and second position respectively. Jason Holder of the West Indies is at number three, Kagiso Rabada of South Africa fourth and Mitchell Starc of Australia at number five. Among the Indian bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami are at number six, ninth and 10th respectively.
India continues to dominate the team rankings. The Indian team remains number-1 with 120 points. Australia’s team is at number two with 108 points. New Zealand (105) is third, South Africa (102) is fourth and England (102) is at number five. Sri Lanka (92) is at number six, Pakistan (85) at number seven and West Indies (81) at number eight. Bangladesh is at number 9, Afghanistan at number 10, Zimbabwe at number 11 and Ireland at number 12.
