New Zealand’s captain cool Kane Williamson again rose to glory as he surpassed Virat Kohli and Steve Smith to grab the number one spot in ICC Test Player Rankings on Thursday. In ICC’s latest Test ranking list, Williamson tops the list with Kohli and Smith occupying second and third positions, respectively.
Williamson’s terrific innings of 129 runs in the first innings against Pakistan in Boxing day test helped him up to move in the top spot of Test rankings. Last year, he was largely on number three in this list. In the Boxing Day Test matches in New Zealand and Australia, Williamson showed exemplary batting skill while Smith slumped in all the innings. The Kiwi skipper was last ranked one batsman in tests in 2015. Since then, the position has juggled between Kohli and Smith.
In the recent video posted on ICC’s official Twitter handle, Williamson reiterated that he just intends to bring the best for his team and is glad to see improvement in his ranking. He even mentioned about his immediate runner-ups, Kohli and Smith, and appreciated their consistency across all the three formats.
Among the bowlers, Australia’s Pat Cummins holds the number 1 position in Tests. The list of all-rounders remains unchanged where England’s Ben Stokes continue to stay at the top of the list. Williamson will have a chance to further cement his place when New Zealand play against Pakistan in the second test on January 3 at Hagley Oval.