Steve Smith’s valiant 92 in the first innings at Lord’s has helped him gain one spot and close in on top-ranked Virat Kohli in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings
The Australia batsman has overtaken New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and is now only nine points behind Kohli, but the India captain will get a chance to consolidate his position in the two-Test series in the West Indies starting Thursday.
Marnus Labuschagne, who batted in the second innings as Smith withdrew on being concussed, has also moved up 16 places to 82nd position after scoring a determined 59 that helped draw the second Test to ensure Australia retained a 1-0 lead in the five-match series that kicked off the ICC World Test Championship.
Travis Head, who advanced two places to 18th after an unbeaten 42 in the second innings, is another Australia batsman to move up the rankings while Pat Cummins has gained one place to reach fifth position in the all-rounders’ list.
For England, player of the match Ben Stokes has moved up six places to 26th after scores of 13 and 115 not out at Lord’s while wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow (up seven places to 30th), left-handed opener Rory Burns (up 17 places to 64th) and all-rounder Chris Woakes (up two places to 68th) have also moved up the rankings for batsmen.
Stuart Broad and Woakes have both gained two places in the bowlers’ list, moving up to 14th and 27th places, respectively, with four and three wickets in the match. Left-arm spinner Jack Leach’s four wickets have lifted him from 48th to 40th position while Jofra Archer has entered the rankings in 83rd place after finishing with five wickets in his debut Test.
Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s player of the match effort of 39 and 122 at Galle has not only helped his team take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series with a six-wicket win but has also helped the opener move up four places to 8th position.
Former captain Angelo Mathews (up three places to 14th) and wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella (up five places to 33rd) have also moved up in the batting rankings while spinner Akila Dananjaya (up nine places to 36th) has made major gains among bowlers.
For New Zealand, left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel has advanced 14 slots to take 61st position after finishing with six wickets in Galle, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
Meanwhile, India could lose their top position in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings as even a 1-0 loss to the West Indies in their upcoming seires will see them slip to 108 points. That margin will be enough for the West Indies to overtake Pakistan to seventh position at 88 points.
Series scenarios:
India win 2-0 – India 115 points, West Indies 80 points
India win 1-0 – India 114, West Indies 82
West Indies win 1-0 – India 108, West Indies 88
West Indies win 2-0 - India 106, West Indies 90
MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (as of 19 August, before the West Indies-India series):
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | India | 113 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 111 |
| 3 | South Africa | 108 |
| 4 | England | 105 |
| 5 | Australia | 98 |
| 6 | Sri Lanka | 94 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 84 |
| 8 | West Indies | 82 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 65 |
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 16 |
*Afghanistan and Ireland have Test status but have not played enough matches to figure on the rankings table
MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 19 August after the Galle and Lord’s Tests)
Batsmen (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( - ) | Virat Kohli | India | 922 | 53.76 | 937 v Eng at Southampton 2018 |
| 2 | (+1) | Steve Smith | Australia | 913 | 63.24 | 947 v SA at Durban 2018 |
| 3 | (-1) | K Williamson | New Zealand | 887 | 52.50 | 915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019 |
| 4 | ( - ) | C Pujara | India | 881 | 51.18 | 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017 |
| 5 | ( - ) | Henry Nicholls | New Zealand | 770 | 45.08 | 778 v Ban at Wellington 2019 |
| 6 | (+2) | Aiden Markram | South Africa | 719* | 43.80 | 759 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018 |
| 7 | (+2) | Q de Kock | South Africa | 718 | 39.31 | 802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017 |
| 8 | (+4) | D Karunaratne | Sri Lanka | 716 | 36.82 | 754 v SA at Colombo (SSC) 2018 |
| 9 | (-3) | Joe Root | England | 710 | 48.34 | 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015 |
| 10 | ( - ) | Faf du Plessis | South Africa | 702 | 42.95 | 734 v India at Centurion 2018 |
Other selected rankings
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 14 | (+3) | A Mathews | Sri Lanka | 674 | 45.05 | 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014 |
| 18 | (+2) | Travis Head | Australia | 657*! | 49.87 | 657 v Eng at Lord's 2019 |
| 26 | (+6) | Ben Stokes | England | 625 | 34.75 | 664 v WI at Lord's 2017 |
| 30 | (+7) | Jonny Bairstow | England | 593 | 36.12 | 772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017 |
| 33 | (+5) | N Dickwella | Sri Lanka | 582! | 30.67 | 582 v NZ at Galle 2019 |
| 64 | (+17) | Rory Burns | England | 465*! | 29.88 | 465 v Aus at Lord's 2019 |
| 68 | (+2) | Chris Woakes | England | 448 | 30.56 | 496 v India at Lord's 2018 |
| 82 | (+16) | M Labuschagne | Australia | 404*! | 29.88 | 404 v Eng at Lord's 2019 |
Bowlers (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( - ) | Pat Cummins | Australia | 914! | 21.32 | 914 v Eng at Lord's 2019 |
| 2 | ( - ) | Kagiso Rabada | South Africa | 851 | 21.77 | 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018 |
| 3 | ( - ) | J Anderson | England | 823 | 26.94 | 903 v India at Lord's 2018 |
| 4 | ( - ) | V Philander | South Africa | 813 | 21.64 | 912 v India at Johannesburg 2013 |
| 5 | (+1) | R Jadeja | India | 794 | 23.68 | 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017 |
| 6 | (-1) | Neil Wagner | New Zealand | 793 | 27.51 | 801 v Ban at Wellington 2019 |
| 7 | ( - ) | Trent Boult | New Zealand | 785 | 27.53 | 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015 |
| 8= | ( - ) | Jason Holder | West Indies | 770* | 27.69 | 778 v Eng at Antigua 2019 |
| ( - ) | M Abbas | Pakistan | 770* | 18.86 | 838 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2018 | |
| 10 | ( - ) | R Ashwin | India | 763 | 25.43 | 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016 |
Other selected rankings
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 14 | (+2) | Stuart Broad | England | 721 | 28.74 | 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016 |
| 27 | (+2) | Chris Woakes | England | 602* | 30.57 | 609 v Pak at The Oval 2016 |
| 36 | (+9) | A Dananjaya | Sri Lanka | 479*! | 24.81 | 479 v NZ at Galle 2019 |
| 40 | (+8) | Jack Leach | England | 422*! | 24.16 | 422 v Aus at Lord's 2019 |
| 61 | (+14) | Ajaz Patel | New Zealand | 285*! | 33.10 | 285 v SL at Galle 2019 |
| 69= | (+11) | L Embuldeniya | Sri Lanka | 247*! | 32.30 | 247 v NZ at Galle 2019 |
| 77= | (+5) | D de Silva | Sri Lanka | 212*! | 47.16 | 212 v NZ at Galle 2019 |
| 83 | (NEW) | Jofra Archer | England | 185*! | 18.20 | 185 v Aus at Lord's 2019 |
All-rounders (top five)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( - ) | Jason Holder | West Indies | 439/* | 448 v Eng at Antigua 2019 |
| 2 | ( - ) | S Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 399 | 489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017 |
| 3 | ( - ) | R Jadeja | India | 387 | 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017 |
| 4 | ( - ) | Ben Stokes | England | 367 | 395 v WI at Lord's 2017 |
| 5 | (+1) | Pat Cummins | Australia | 339*/! | 339 v Eng at Lord's 2019 |
* indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
! indicates career-highest rating
