Kohli’s drops to 9th in Test rankings as bad patch continues; Babar climbs to 8th

Virat Kohli's dismal time with the bat continues as he dropped two places in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Test batsman rankings. The Indian Test captain scored 35 and 18 in the Boxing Day encounter in Centurion against South Africa as he failed to stamp his authority with the bat. On the other hand, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, despite not playing for a month has gained one position to move to eighth place in the rankings, while Kohli languishes at ninth. Azam last played a 76-run knock against Bangladesh on December 4.

The poor performance in the Centurion Test saw the 33-year-old drop crucial rating points. There was some good news for Team India though as KL Rahul climbed 18 positions to reach 31st in the rankings with his 'Man of the Match' performance in the first Test. Marcus Labuschagne remains at the top of the pile while Kohli is the lone Indian in the top 10.

For South Africa, captain and opener Dean Elgar progressed two spots to climb to 14th spot after a fighting 77 in the second innings of first Test. Temba Bavuma also had a jump 16 places to move to 39th after his scores of 52 and 35 not out in the opening Test.

In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah rose to ninth in the table with his fifer in Centurion, moving three places. His teammate Mohammed Shami also grabbed headlines with eight wickets in the Boxing Day Test and moved to 17th after climbing two spots. India's Ravichandran Ashwin kept his second place intact with 873 rating points.

Ashwin and Bumrah remain the only Indians in the top 10 list. The bowlers' table continues to be led by Australian skipper Pat Cummins. Despite missing the Adelaide Test Cummins still has 902 rating points to maintain his position.

Kagiso Rabada also climbed a place in the rankings, moving sixth in the table after an impressive showing against India. The 26-year-old scalped seven wickets in Centurion but was not enough to save his side as the Proteas suffered an embarrassing 113-run loss. The top 10 list contains three Australian bowlers and two each from India and New Zealand.