Former India captain Virat Kohli was removed from top 10 following 6 long years. He is currently the thirteenth. Former England skipper Root, who, alongside Jonny Bairstow, saw his team to a seven-wicket triumph over India and helped draw the five-match series 2-2, has consolidated his position at the top of the rankings. Root is on 923 rating points after smashing an unbeaten 142 in the second innings, six points more than his previous best from back in August 2015. 

He has a gigantic noteworthy lead over second-placed Marnus Labuschagne, with Steve Smith and Babar Azam possessing third and fourth places in the rundown. Pant, who scored 146 and 57 in the match, is presently the highest ranked batter from India after gaining six openings to slots to reach a career-best fifth position. 

The wicketkeeper-batter’s previous best was seventh position, which he achieved between March and August last year.

For the very first time in 6 years, India star Virat Kohli has dropped out of the top 10 ICC Men’s Test Rankings among batters.

The 33-year-old’s structure has been under the scanner for some time, with him having not scored a 100 since November 2019. His terrible performance against England in the fifth Test at Edgbaston was enough to make him slip down four spots into thirteenth spot.

Also Read: Sehwag & Pathan to feature in Legends League Cricket-2

The decline in form of one of the modern day ‘greats’  has been hard for fans to acknowledge. Notwithstanding, some expect that he will accept the latest blow as a motivation to return stronger. Numerous others feel that this is maybe the start of the end for Virat Kohli.

This is how Twitter responded:

Jonny Bairstow replaces Virat Kohli in top 10 ICC Men’s Test Rankings among batters

Ironically, England’s Jonny Bairstow replaced Kohli in the top 10. The team had quite a heated altercation during the Edgbaston Test and Kohli got a great deal of stick for something similar.

The 33-year-old had seemingly sledged Bairstow as he failed to connect a big shot and maybe that’s what triggered him the former up. Bairstow wound up slamming hundreds in both innings as England managed their highest run chase in Test history (378/3) to beat India and level the series at 2-2.

Understandably, India is already facing enough criticism for losing to England, despite having a massive upper hand. Virat Kohli’s situation has seemingly made it worse.