In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Ranking for Test Batsmen, Hashim Amla gained 6 places to be at the 7th position with 778 points courtesy his recent performance against England. He went on to score two back to back half centuries in each innings which eventually helped South Africa beat England and level the series at 1-1. ICC released its new rankings on July 19.

The Australian Steve Smith retains his top position with 55 points lead over Joe Root who loses 2 points to take his tally to 886 points who is at the second position. The New Zealand skipper, Kane Williamson retains his third spot with 880 points as before.

With India playing their last test match in March against Australia, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli retains the No 4 & 5 spot with 846 and 818 points respectively. Lokesh Rahul who was out of the Indian squad due to a shoulder injury slips down a place to be at the tenth spot with 739 points.

Scoring two half centuries in the ongoing test series against England, the South African wicketkeeper-batsman retains his place in the top 10 of the test batsmen’s list at 6 with 793 points.

Azhar Ali and David Warner drop one place to be at 8th and 9th respectively. Although they lost a place each, they managed to maintain their points at 769 and 758 points respectively.

The MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings is a chart where international cricket player’s performances are ranked using a points based system which is found out by doing a series of calculations leading to a sophisticated moving average. Players are rated on a scale of 0 to 1000 points.

Top 10 Test batsmen:

1. Steve Smith (AUS) – 941

2. Joe Root (ENG) – 886

3. K. Williamson (NZ) – 880

4. C. Pujara (IND) – 846

5. Virat Kohli (IND) – 818

6. Quinton de Kock (SA) – 793

7. Hashim Amla (SA) – 778

8. Azhar Ali (PAK) – 769

9. David Warner (AUS) – 759

10. Lokesh Rahul (IND) – 739