Tom Latham reaps rewards of outstanding 264* in the latest rankings update after the Wellington and Perth Tests.

• Lyon equals career-best seventh position; Latham, Bumrah and Pant also reach career-bests

Captains Virat Kohli of India and Kane Williamson of New Zealand have consolidated their positions in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, even as Tom Latham, Angelo Mathews and Nathan Lyon have made considerable gains in the latest rankings update carried out on Thursday.

Top-ranked Kohli has gained 14 points to reach 934 points after a valiant first-innings knock of 123 in the second Test at Perth which Australia won by 146 runs on Tuesday to draw level at 1-1 in the four-match series. Kohli has thus increased his lead over Williamson from seven to 19 points.

ICYMI, Kane Williamson became the first New Zealand batsman to cross 900 points in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Batting Rankings after his star performance against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi! 👏



Could he take the top spot off Kohli later this month?



➡️ https://t.co/TYXTzMH2y5 pic.twitter.com/6ySqMG6dK8 — ICC (@ICC) December 12, 2018

However, second-ranked Williamson too has something to cheer about after scoring 91 in the drawn first of two Tests against Sri Lanka, which ended in Wellington on Wednesday. He has reached a personal best of 915 points, the joint-25th highest ever and equal with ICC Hall of Famer George Headley of the West Indies.

New Zealand opener Tom Latham is another major gainer after an outstanding Test performance of 264 not out that not only won him the man of the match award but has also lifted him 15 slots to a career-best 22nd position. Fast bowler Tim Southee is another one to gain from the team, his eight wickets in the match helping gain four slots to reach 11th position.

For Sri Lanka, former captain Angelo Mathews (83 and 120 not out) and Kusal Mendis (141 not out) have been rewarded after their match-saving efforts. Mathews has gained eight slots to reach 16th place while Mendis has moved up two slots to take 18th position. Among their bowlers, Lahiru Kumara has gained five slots to reach 43rd place after finishing with four wickets.

Tom Latham's double-century saw him move up the charts

There were more movements owing to performances in Perth with Player of the Match Nathan Lyon’s eight wickets helping grab a career-best seventh place, a position he had also previously attained in October last year. Josh Hazlewood (up two places to ninth) and Mitchell Starc (up one place to 15th) are the other Australia bowlers to move up.

Among their batsmen, Usman Khawaja (up one place to 12th), captain Tim Paine (up nine places to 46th) and Travis Head (up 16 places to 63rd) are the ones to move up the ladder after useful contributions against the world’s top-ranked Test side.

For India, apart from Kohli, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane (up two places to 15th) and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant (up 11 places to a career-best 48th) have also moved up among batsmen while fast bowlers Mohammad Shami (up two places to 24th) and Jasprit Bumrah (up five places to a career-best 28th) have advanced in the list for bowlers.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 20 December, following the conclusion of the Perth and Wellington Tests):

BATSMEN (top 20)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge Highest Rating 1 ( - ) Virat Kohli Ind 934 54.23 937 v Eng at Southampton 2018 2 ( - ) Kane Williamson NZ 915! 51.91 915 v SL at Wellington 2018 3 ( - ) Steve Smith Aus 892 61.37 947 v SA at Durban 2018 4 ( - ) C. Pujara Ind 816 49.77 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017 5 ( - ) Joe Root Eng 807 50.44 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015 6 ( - ) David Warner Aus 787 48.2 880 v NZ at Perth 2015 7 ( - ) D. Karunaratne SL 752 37.73 754 v SA at Colombo (SSC) 2018 8 ( - ) Dean Elgar SA 724 41.05 784 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018 9= (+1) Azhar Ali Pak 708 44.88 787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016 ( - ) Henry Nicholls NZ 708* 39.56 709 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2018 11 ( - ) Aiden Markram SA 703* 47.27 759 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018 12 (+1) U. Khawaja Aus 692 42.8 747 v Pak at Sydney 2017 13 (-1) D. Chandimal SL 679 43.83 755 v Win at St Lucia 2018 14 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 673 47.23 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013 15 (+2) Ajinkya Rahane Ind 669 41.38 825 v NZ at Indore 2016 16 (+8) Angelo Mathews SL 668 44.34 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014 17 (-2) Faf du Plessis SA 665 42.33 734 v Ind at Centurion 2018 18 (+2) Kusal Mendis SL 662 37.8 693 v Win at St Lucia 2018 19 (-3) Ross Taylor NZ 656 46.11 871 v Win at Hamilton 2013 20 (-3) Jonny Bairstow Eng 653 37.71 772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017

BOWLERS (top 20)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge Highest Rating 1 ( - ) Kagiso Rabada SA 882 21.71 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018 2 ( - ) James Anderson Eng 874 26.98 903 v Ind at Lord's 2018 3 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 826 21.54 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013 4 ( - ) M. Abbas Pak 821* 16.62 838 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2018 5 ( - ) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 796 23.5 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017 6 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 778 25.43 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016 7 (+7) Nathan Lyon Aus 766 31.6 774 v Eng at Adelaide 2017 8 (-1) Pat Cummins Aus 761* 24.8 800 v SA at Johannesburg 2018 9 (+2) Josh Hazlewood Aus 758 26.66 863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017 10 (-1) Yasir Shah Pak 757 28.26 878 v Eng at Lord's 2016 11 (+4) Tim Southee NZ 752 30.16 799 v Win at Jamaica 2014 12 (-2) Jason Holder Win 751* 28.5 766 v Ind at Hyderabad 2018 13 (-1) Shannon Gabriel Win 742 29.73 757 v Ban at Jamaica 2018 14 (-6) Trent Boult NZ 739 28.54 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015 15 (+1) Mitchell Starc Aus 703 28.22 805 v SA at Durban 2018 16 (-3) Neil Wagner NZ 698 29.25 785 v Win at Wellington 2017 17 ( - ) Mehidy Hasan Ban 696*! 29.78 696 v Win at Dhaka 2018 18 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 694 29.04 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016 19 ( - ) Keshav Maharaj SA 692* 27.65 695 v Zim at Port Elizabeth 2017 20 (+1) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 675 31.27 705 v Aus at Mirpur 2017

ALL-ROUNDERS (top 5)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Highest Rating 1 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 415 489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017 2 ( - ) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 384 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017 3 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 370 378 v SL at Galle 2018 4 ( - ) Jason Holder Win 365/* 381 v Ind at Hyderabad 2018 5 ( - ) Ben Stokes Eng 342 396 v Win at Lord's 2017

*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.

!indicates career-highest rating