Steve Smith surpassed Ricky Ponting's record

March 8 (CRICKETNMORE) - Australia captain Steve Smith has maintained his reign at the top for 77 Tests, going past Ricky Ponting’s 76 matches and now has the third longest stint at the top among Australians after Steve Waugh (94) and Don Bradman (93).

His team-mates Matt Renshaw has gained six places to reach a career-best 28th rank with knocks of 60 and five while left-hander Shaun Marsh has moved up five places to 37th position with scores of 66 and nine.

India captain Virat Kohli has conceded the second rank to England’s Joe Root after managing only 27 runs in the match and 40 in the series so far. Root is now one point ahead of Kohli at 848 points.

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Cheteshwar Pujara’s innings of 17 and 92 have lifted him up five places to sixth rank while Ajinkya Rahane has moved up two places to 15th rank after scoring 17 and 52 in Bangalore. Player of the match Lokesh Rahul has gained 23 places to reach 23rd spot after scores of 90 and 51.

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts       Avge   Highest Rating

   1       ( - )       Steve Smith      Aus      936      59.32   939 v Ind at Pune 2017

   2       (+1)      Joe Root           Eng      848      52.80   917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3       (-1)       Virat Kohli         Ind       847      49.90   895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   4       ( - )       K.Williamson     NZ        823      50.07   893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   5       ( - )       David Warner    Aus      794      48.27   880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   6       (+5)      C. Pujara          Ind       793      49.84   851 v SA at Durban 2013

   7       (-1)       Hashim Amla    SA        787      49.99   907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   8       (-1)       Azhar Ali           Pak      779      47.07   787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

   9       (-1)       Younus Khan    Pak      772      53.06   880 v SL at Lahore 2009

  10      (-1)       Q. de Kock       SA        760*    51.04   769 v SL at Cape Town 2017

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ICC Media Release