Dubai: New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson closed in on his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli, having narrowed the gap with the table topper by reaching a career-best 915 rating points in the ICC rankings for batsmen in Tests.
India skipper Kohli continued to top the chart with 922 points while Cheteshwar Pujara was placed third with 881 rating points.
Williamson’s 200 not out, which earned him the Player of the Match award, has lifted him from 897 points to within seven points of India captain Virat Kohli, who is perched at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings with 922 points. With two more Tests to go in the series, Williamson has a chance to regain the top spot, which he occupied briefly towards the end of 2015.
Williamson’s rating points are the highest by any New Zealander in Test cricket with Richard Hadlee the only other player from his country to cross the 900-point mark with a best of 909 points in bowling.
Openers Tom Latham and Jeet Raval have also made good progress after their centuries in Hamilton. Latham’s score of 161 has lifted him one place to a career-best 11th position and just three points shy of South Africa’s Faf du Plessis, who is in 10th place with 702 points. Raval’s maiden century, after seven fifties, has helped him gain five slots and reach 33rd position.
Among their bowlers, the pair of Trent Boult (down two places to eighth) and Tim Southee (ninth) remain in the top 10 while Neil Wagner is also moving in the right direction, gaining three places and reaching 11th position after finishing with seven wickets in the match, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
Ravindra Jadeja too maintained his fifth position in bowling with 794 points while the out-of-favour Ravichandran Ashwin was 10th with 763 points.
PTI
