India captain Virat Kohli and South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada have maintained their top positions in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings at the year-end after 2018 saw them achieve several milestones including from the rankings perspective.

• Bumrah, Cummins and Olivier among bowlers to move up; career-bests for Nicholls, Babar and Pant

Kohli dropped three points despite a first innings score of 82 in the third Test in Melbourne, but still enjoys a 34-point lead over Kane Williamson. Kohli, who attained a career-high 937 points during the year, which is the highest ever by an India batsman, scored 1322 runs in all. Kohli overtook Steven Smith in August and has now held the top position for 135 days.

Rabada, who split the top ranking with England’s seasoned fast bowler James Anderson during the year, is just six points ahead of his adversary. Rabada, who became the youngest to take top position among bowlers during the year and held the spot for 178 days during the year, grabbed six wickets in the opening match at Centurion that South Africa won by six wickets to finish with 52 wickets in 10 Tests in 2018.

Kohli’s compatriot Cheteshwar Pujara has maintained the fourth position after a first-innings century in Melbourne, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has gained 10 slots to reach a career-best 38th position while debutant opener Mayank Agarwal has entered the batsmen’s list at an impressive 67th place after scores of 76 and 42 helped his side win by 137 runs for a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

Kohli consolidated his spot at the top of the pile

Jasprit Bumrah has moved from 28th to 12th after his match haul of nine for 86, the best-ever by an India seam bowler in Australia. He is now the highest-ranked India fast bowler in the format with Mohammed Shami next in 23rd position.

For Australia, Pat Cummins has been the pick, gaining five slots to reach a career-best third position after finishing with nine wickets in the match. He has also gained 13 slots to reach 91st place among batsmen with some useful runs down the order. Travis Head (up seven places to 56th) has also benefitted in the latest rankings update.



New Zealand fast bowlers have a lot to cheer about following their record 423-run win over Sri Lanka in Christchurch. Trent Boult’s nine wickets in the match have helped him gain seven slots to reach the seventh position while Tim Southee (up two places to ninth) and Neil Wagner (up one place to 15th) have also moved up.

Century-makers at Christchurch, Henry Nicholls (up two places to seventh) and Tom Latham (up eight places to 14th), and Jeet Raval (up two places to 35th) have also gained in the latest rankings update.

Nicholls scored an unbeaten 162 to move up to the seventh place

For South Africa, former captain Hashim Amla (up three places to 11th place) and Temba Bavuma (up four places to 31st) have gained among batsmen while fast bowler Duanne Olivier has gained 17 places to reach 36th position after his player of the match effort of 11 wickets.

Pakistan’s Babar Azam has gained nine slots to reach 27th position after innings of 71 and six while left-arm fast bowlers Mohammad Amir (up two places to 34th) and Shaheen Afridi (up 38 places to 73rd) have advanced after taking four and five wickets in Centurion.

Meanwhile, New Zealand have leapfrogged South Africa to take third place in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings after starting the series against Sri Lanka with a chance of going up to the second position with a 2-0 win.

Rank Team Points 1 India 116 2 England 108 3 New Zealand 107 4 South Africa 106 5 Australia 102 6 Pakistan 92 7 Sri Lanka 91 8 West Indies 70 9 Bangladesh 69 10 Zimbabwe 13 11 Afghanistan 00 12 Ireland 00

(Developed by David Kendix)

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 December, following the conclusion of the Centurion, Christchurch and Melbourne Tests):

BATSMEN (top 20)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Average Highest Rating 1 ( - ) Virat Kohli Ind 931 54.01 937 v Eng at Southampton 2018 2 ( - ) Kane Williamson NZ 897 51.44 915 v SL at Wellington 2018 3 ( - ) Steve Smith Aus 883 61.37 947 v SA at Durban 2018 4 ( - ) C. Pujara Ind 834 49.83 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017 5 ( - ) Joe Root Eng 807 50.44 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015 6 ( - ) David Warner Aus 780 48.20 880 v NZ at Perth 2015 7 (+2) Henry Nicholls NZ 763*! 43.54 763 v SL at Christchurch 2018 8 ( - ) Dean Elgar SA 728 40.92 784 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018 9 (-2) D. Karunaratne SL 715 37.08 754 v SA at Colombo (SSC) 2018 10 (-1) Azhar Ali Pak 697 44.45 787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016 11= (+3) Hashim Amla SA 689 47.35 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013 (+1) Usman Khawaja Aus 689 42.29 747 v Pak at Sydney 2017 13 (+3) Angelo Mathews SL 687 44.79 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014 14 (+8) Tom Latham NZ 676! 41.59 676 v SL at Christchurch 2018 15 (-2) D. Chandimal SL 675 43.53 755 v Win at St Lucia 2018 16 (+2) Kusal Mendis SL 671 37.90 693 v Win at St Lucia 2018 17 (-6) Aiden Markram SA 654* 43.83 759 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018 18= (+2) Jonny Bairstow Eng 653 37.71 772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017 (-3) Ajinkya Rahane Ind 653 40.82 825 v NZ at Indore 2016 20 (-1) Ross Taylor NZ 646 45.93 871 v Win at Hamilton 2013

BOWLERS (top 20)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Average Highest Rating 1 ( - ) Kagiso Rabada SA 880 21.56 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018 2 ( - ) James Anderson Eng 874 26.98 903 v Ind at Lord's 2018 3 (+5) Pat Cummins Aus 836*! 23.25 836 v Ind at Melbourne 2018 4 (-1) Vernon Philander SA 817 21.54 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013 5 (-1) M. Abbas Pak 813* 16.62 838 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2018 6 (-1) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 796 23.55 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017 7 (+7) Trent Boult NZ 771 27.90 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015 8 (-2) R. Ashwin Ind 770 25.43 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016 9 (+2) Tim Southee NZ 767 29.93 799 v Win at Jamaica 2014 10 (+2) Jason Holder Win 751* 28.50 766 v Ind at Hyderabad 2018 11 (-2) Josh Hazlewood Aus 748 26.83 863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017 12 (-2) Yasir Shah Pak 745 28.33 878 v Eng at Lord's 2016 13 ( - ) Shannon Gabriel Win 742 29.73 757 v Ban at Jamaica 2018 14 (-7) Nathan Lyon Aus 727 31.95 774 v Eng at Adelaide 2017 15 (+1) Neil Wagner NZ 721 28.88 785 v Win at Wellington 2017 16 (+12) Jasprit Bumrah Ind 708*! 21.02 708 v Aus at Melbourne 2018 17 ( - ) Mehidy Hasan Ban 696*! 29.78 696 v Win at Dhaka 2018 18 (-3) Mitchell Starc Aus 695 28.43 805 v SA at Durban 2018 19 (-1) Stuart Broad Eng 694 29.04 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016 20 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 675 31.27 705 v Aus at Mirpur 2017

ALL-ROUNDERS (top five)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Highest Rating 1 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 415 489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017 2 (+2) Jason Holder Win 365/* 381 v Ind at Hyderabad 2018 3 (-1) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 364 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017 4 (-1) Vernon Philander SA 362 378 v SL at Galle 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