Mohali: India captain Virat Kohli is India’s highest-ranked batsman in 13th position in the ICC Test rankings and is accompanied by Cheteshwar Pujara (19th) and Murali Vijay (20th) inside the top 20, while England’s Joe Root currently occupies the coveted number-one spot with Australia captain Steven Smith in second, just three points behind.

Led by number one-ranked Dale Steyn, South Africa boasts Vernon Philander (seventh) and Morne Morkel (11th) inside the top 20 with Imran Tahir in 59th spot. For India, Ravichandran Ashwin (eighth) and Ishant Sharma (19th) are inside the top 20, while the next highest-ranked bowler is Ravindra Jadeja in 30th spot, followed by Amit Mishra (38th), Umesh Yadav (42nd) and Varun Aaron (86th).

The ICC Test Player Rankings are also up for major reshuffle as the bulk of the star performers will be in action over the next few weeks. 

Root and Smith have been involved in the fight for the number-one slot since the Trent Bridge Test. And because there is such a small gap between the two batsmen, neither of them has been able to retain the slot for an extended period of time. With Root left with just one innings in the ongoing series, Smith has an opportunity to not only leapfrog Root but also create some daylight as he has six innings in hand.

Breathing down the throats of Root and Smith are the South African duo of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, who are separated by just nine points, with team-mate Faf du Plessis sitting in 16th spot.

Kane Williamson (seventh) of New Zealand and Australia’s David Warner (ninth) are the other batsmen inside the top 10 with Black Caps’ Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum in 13th and 15th positions respectively.

The New Zealand batsmen will face a real challenge in the three-Test series as five Australia bowlers feature inside the top 20. These include Mitchell Johnson (sixth), Peter Siddle (13th), Josh Hazlewood (16th), Nathan Lyon (17th) and Mitchell Starc (20th).

Fifth-ranked Trent Boult will spearhead New Zealand’s bowling attack, which also includes Tim Southee (10th), Mark Craig (39th) and Doug Bracewell (40th).

The top five all-rounders includes three players who will feature in Australia and India, including Ashwin (second), Philander (fourth) and Johnson (fifth).

Batsmen (top 20) 

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts         Ave        HS Rating

   1         Joe Root               Eng        913        56.79    917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   2         Steven Smith       Aus        910        56.27    936 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   3         AB de Villiers     SA         890        52.09    935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   4         Hashim Amla      SA         881        52.48    907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   5         Younus Khan       Pak        854        54.31    880 v SL at Lahore 2009

   6         Angelo Mathews SL          851        51.43    877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

   7         Kane Williamson NZ         813        45.70    860 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   8         Alastair Cook      Eng        783        47.39    874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012

   9         David Warner      Aus        775        46.78    880 v Ind at Adelaide 2014

  10        Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak        757        48.77    842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014

  11        Asad Shafiq         Pak        746!      43.89    746 v Eng at Dubai 2015

  12        Virat Kohli          Ind         730        45.06    784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

  13        Ross Taylor         NZ         722        44.99    871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

  14        S Chanderpaul     WI         720        51.37    901 v NZ at Napier 2008

  15        B McCullum        NZ         715        38.76    760 v SL at Christchurch 2014

  16        Faf du Plessis      SA         709*     51.55    710 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014

  17        Azhar Ali             Pak        697        44.06    753 v SL at Pallekele 2012

  18        Sarfraz Ahmed    Pak        689*     46.96    715 v SL at Galle 2015

  19        C Pujara               Ind         681        49.28    851 v SA at Durban 2013

  20        Murali Vijay        Ind         680        41.72    689 v Ban at Fatullah 2015

Bowlers (top 20)

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts         Avge      HS Rating

   1         Dale Steyn           SA         905        22.48    909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   2         Yasir Shah           Pak        827*!    24.55    827 v Eng at Dubai 2015

   3         James Anderson  Eng        824        29.20    847 v WI at Barbados 2015

   4         Stuart Broad        Eng        817        29.40    852 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   5         Trent Boult          NZ         814        27.12    825 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   6         Mitchell Johnson Aus        773        27.94    849 v Pak at Dubai 2014

   7         Vernon Philander SA         770        22.13    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

   8         R Ashwin             Ind         760        28.44    808 v WI at Mumbai 2013

   9         Rangana Herath   SL          751        29.49    851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014

  10        Tim Southee        NZ         713        31.63    799 v WI at Jamaica 2014

  11        Morne Morkel     SA         705        29.66    776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

  12        Saeed Ajmal        Pak        675        28.10    855 v Zim at Harare 2013

  13        Peter Siddle         Aus        646        29.87    816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013

  14        Kemar Roach       WI         642        28.21    774 v SA at Centurion 2014

  15        D Prasad              SL          632*!    35.97    632 v WI at Colombo (PSS) 2015

  16        Josh Hazlewood  Aus        628*     21.75    634 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2015

  17        Nathan Lyon        Aus        616        34.09    648 v Eng at Melbourne 2013

  18        Shakib Al Hasan  Ban        614        33.29    700 v Zim at Khulna 2014

  19        Ishant Sharma      Ind         613        36.51    671 v WI at Dominica 2011

  20        Mitchell Starc     Aus        596*     31.80    627 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2015