India vs Australia: Virat Kohli closes gap on Steve Smith in ICC Test rankings after knock of 74 in pink-ball match

Dubai: India may have suffered an embarrassing defeat in the series-opener against Australia but their skipper Virat Kohli fractionally closed the gap with top-ranked Test batsman Steve Smith, following his 74-run knock in the first innings in Adelaide. Kohli gained two points for his half-century to get to 888 while Smith (911) lost 10 points in the table after scoring 1 and 1 in his two innings. Marnus Labuschagne’s innings of 47 and six in the low-scoring match pushed him to a career-best 839 points in the latest ICC rankings for Test batsmen. [caption id=“attachment_9127591” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Virat Kohli gained two points for his half-century to get to 888 while Smith (911) lost 10 points in the table after scoring 1 and 1 in his two innings. AFP[/caption] Australia skipper Tim Paine’s player-of-the-match innings of 73 not out has lifted him to a career-best 33rd with 592 points. His previous best was 45th in December 2018. Further down, Joe Burns’ unbeaten 51 saw him move into 48th place, the first time he has been in the top 50 since 2016. Spinner R Ashwin has now become India’s top-ranked bowler after taking four wickets in Australia’s first innings. Ashwin, now ranked ninth, overtook pacer pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Ravindra Jadeja, who did not play the Adelaide Test, was unchanged at number three in the all-rounders’ list. Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins gained six points for his seven-wicket haul as he moved from 904 to 910 for a comfortable lead over Stuart Broad in second place. Cummins’ pace colleague, Josh Hazelwood’s figures of 5/8 in India’s second innings helped him gain four spots and move back into the top five with 805 points, the first time since March 2018.