Virat Kohli closes in on top-ranked Steve Smith

Master in action
Virat Kohli notched up his 27th Test hundred in the pink-ball Test against Bangladesh. AFP

Dubai: Indian captain Virat Kohli rode on his commanding century in the day-night Test to close in on top-ranked Steve Smith, while opener Mayank Agarwal made his maiden entry into the top 10 in the ICC Test rankings issued on Tuesday.

Kohli (928 rating points), who hit 136 against Bangladesh in the second Test in Kolkata, reduced the gap from 25 to three points with Australian Smith (931) to retain the second spot.

Agarwal, who struck a double century in the first Test against Bangladesh in Indore, jumped one place to 10th with 700 points. He is the fourth Indian batsman in the top 10 list. Cheteshwar Pujara (791) and Ajinkya Rahane (759) remained at fourth and fifth positions respectively.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes also reached the top 10 for the first time by jumping three places after scores of 91 and 28 against New Zealand.

Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim gained four slots to reach 26th after scoring a fighting 74 in the second innings of the Kolkata Test while Liton Das is up eight slots to 78th position.

Indian fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav achieved career-high points after victories over Bangladesh. Ishant has 716 points but is in the 17th place, way behind his career-best seventh place achieved in July, 2011. Umesh has 672 points and has jumped one place to 21st.

Senior Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin moved one place up to ninth with 772 points, while injury-sidelined Jasprit Bumrah lost one spot to be at fifth with 794 rating points.

Ravindra Jadeja, who jumped one spot to 15th among bowlers with 725 points, retained his second spot, behind West Indian Jason Holder, in the all-rounders' rankings.

Ashwin, meanwhile, has moved down one place to fifth among the all-rounders. 

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.