ICC releases new rankings for Test format

Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) issued a new ranking for the Test format.

In the batting rankings released by ICC, New Zealand's Kane Williamson is at the top with 864 points, followed by English batsman Joe Root with 859 points and Australia's Steve Smith at the third position with 818 points.

Australian batsman Marence Labushin is fourth with 802 points while Daryl Mitchell is fifth with 786 points.

Virat Kohli's impressive performance has lifted him to sixth place in the latest ICC Test rankings, with his excellent form against South Africa scoring 38 and 76 at Centurion, followed by crucial match-winning innings of 46 runs in the deciding game in Cape Town and scored a total of 172 runs in the series.

After climbing three places in the rankings, Kohli is at sixth with 775 points and has overtaken Babar Azam who after failing to score just 126 runs in six innings against Australia, he has fallen to the eighth position with 768 points.

Mohammad Rizwan's brilliant knock of 88 in the first innings of the Sydney Test helped him to moved up 10 places to 16th position with 668 rating points and Saud Shakeel moved to 14th position with 693 rating points.

On the bowling front, Aamir Jamal continued to impress in his debut series, with his impressive six-wicket haul in the Sydney Test taking him up 12 places in the rankings to 45th with 432 points, while Shaheen Afridi is at the 12th position with 733 points.

Ravichandran Ashwin continues to top the bowling rankings with 863 points.