Kane Williamson tied with Virat Kohli at No.2 in the recent ICC Test Rankings for batsmen

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has joined his Indian counterpart, Virat Kohli, at the second spot in the recently released ICC Test Rankings for batsmen. The change in rankings comes after he had scored his third double century in the first Test match against West Indies at the Seddon Park, Hamilton recently. 

Williamson tied with Kohli

After Kane's splendid knock of 251 against the Windies, the New Zealand skipper, who was at the fourth spot has now leapfrogged to the second spot in the Test Rankings and is now tied with Kohli at 886 points. Australian batting sensation Marnus Labuschagne who was at the third spot has now dropped to fourth with 827 points in his tally and Pakistani skipper Babar Azam is at the fifth position with 797 points. 

The top 10 batsmen in the longest format

Australian opener David Warner (793), India's solid number three batsman Cheteshwar Pujara (766), England's most reliable all-rounder in modern-day cricket Ben Stokes (760), his countryman as well as Test skipper Joe Root (738) and New Zealand's wicket-keeper batsman Tom Latham (733) occupy the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th positions respectively.

Elegant Australian batsman Steve Smith has retained the 'Numero Uno' spot with 911 points and he will look to consolidate the top spot in the upcoming four-match Test series against India that gets underway on December 17 at the Adelaide Oval. The Adelaide Test will be played under lights with the pink-ball. The D/N Test will be succeeded by the 'Boxing Day' Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (December 26-30), Sydney Cricket Ground (January 7-11), and the 'Gabba' Brisbane (January 15-19) respectively. 

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Will Williamson edge past Kohli?

While Smith has four Test matches to regain his top spot, Even Williamson has three Test matches to make his bat do the talking and edge past Virat Kohli. Kane will be leading the Black Caps in the second and final Test against West Indies (December 11-15) and will then be leading his team from the front when they host Pakistan later in the month in a two-match Test series at the Bay Oval (December 26-30) and Christchurch 3-7) respectively.

Kohli, on the other hand, will only be making a solitary Test appearance at the Adelaide Oval after which he will be returning back to India to be with his better half Anushka Sharma as the couple is expecting their first child in January. The batting megastar has been granted paternity leave by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

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