India captain Virat Kohli is back on top of the ICC Test rankings for batsmen after bumper series against South Africa and Bangladesh coincided with a rare 'quiet' outing for Australia batting ace Steve Smith.
Kohli now occupies the top spot in the ICC Test rankings with 928 points, five more than second-placed Smith.
Kohli scored an unbeaten double century during the 3-0 Test series sweep against the Proteas at home and followed it up with a fine century in the pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata. Those two knocks were enough to push Kohli past Smith, who slipped under the radar during the two-match Test series against Pakistan.
Smith got just two opportunities to bat and made four and 36. They can't be called failures as such because in both Tests Australia's top order batsmen David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne had already piled on the runs by the time Smith came in to bat.
Kohli is now the top-ranked batsman in Tests and ODIs. He is also the only batsman to average more than 50 in all three formats. However, Smith is streets ahead of Kohli when it comes to overall batting in Test cricket, with the Aussie averaging a mind-boggling 63.7 compared to Kohli's 54.9.
