Nottingham: India’s Cheteshwar Pujara, static in seventh place, will have the opportunity to break into the top five of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, while Virat Kohli, who currently occupies tenth position, will have the chance to consolidate his place in the top 10 when the five-Test series between England and India gets underway in Nottingham on Wednesday 9 July.
Pujara trails fifth-ranked Shivnarine Chanderpaul by 35 ratings points, while Kohli needs 16 ratings points to both move ahead of Ross Taylor of New Zealand and also break the 800-point barrier.
Ian Bell, in 18th place, is the only batsman from England to find a place amongst the top 20.
Outside the top 20, batsmen likely to be seen in action from both the sides are Alistair Cook (21st), Joe Root (26th), MS Dhoni (29th), Matt Prior (32nd), Rohit Sharma (33rd), Murali Vijay (42nd), Ajinikya Rahane (45th) and Shikhar Dhawan (50th).
Gary Ballance and Sam Robson, who did well for England against Sri Lanka, are in 83rd and 94th places, respectively.
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin in seventh position is the highest-ranked bowler from either side in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers. James Anderson (12th) and Stuart Broad (14th) are the other bowlers to feature inside the top 20.
Other bowlers to watch out for are Ishant Sharma (23rd), Ravindra Jadeja (26th), Mohammed Shami (33rd), Ben Stokes (46th), Liam Plunkett (50th), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (73rd) and Chris Woakes (118th).
In the All-rounders’ table, Ashwin (second) and Stuart Broad (fifth) feature in the top five.
Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings
Batsmen (top 10)
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 AB de Villiers SA 922 51.94 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
2 K Sangakkara SL 896 58.63 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
3 Hashim Amla SA 873 51.35 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
4 David Warner Aus 871! 46.54 871 v SA at Cape Town 2014
5 S.Chanderpaul WI 854 51.88 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
6 Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 824! 48.75 824 v SL at Sharjah 2014
7 C Pujara Ind 819* 58.92 851 v SA at Durban 2013
8 Michael Clarke Aus 818 51.50 900 v SL at Melbourne 2012
9 Ross Taylor NZ 795 46.43 871 v WI at Hamilton 2013
10 Virat Kohli Ind 784! 46.51 784 v NZ at Wellington 2014
Selected Rankings
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
18 Ian Bell Eng 657 45.12 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
21 Alastair Cook Eng 633 45.90 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
26 Joe Root Eng 610* 41.86 630 v SL at Lord's 2014
29 MS Dhoni Ind 604 38.77 662 v SA at Kolkata 2010
32 Matt Prior Eng 583 41.00 745 v NZ at Auckland 2013
33 Rohit Sharma Ind 578*! 56.87 578 v NZ at Wellington 2014
42 Murali Vijay Ind 530* 35.24 569 v SA at Durban 2013
45 Ajinkya Rahane Ind 513*! 47.37 513 v NZ at Wellington 2014
50 S Dhawan Ind 475*! 48.54 475 v NZ at Wellington 2014
83 Gary Ballance Eng 334*! 45.20 334 v SL at Headingley 2014
94 Sam Robson Eng 305*! 42.75 305 v SL at Headingley 2014
Bowlers (top 10)
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Dale Steyn SA 898 23.01 908 v Pak at Johannesburg 2013
2 Ryan Harris Aus 870! 22.56 870 v SA at Cape Town 2014
3 V Philander SA 865 20.11 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
4 M Johnson Aus 844! 27.42 844 v SA at Cape Town 2014
5 Saeed Ajmal Pak 787 27.46 855 v Zim at Harare 2013
6 Tim Southee NZ 783 29.83 799 v WI at Kingston 2014
7 R Ashwin Ind 744 28.50 808 v WI at Mumbai 2013
8 Rangana Herath SL 739 30.51 838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
9 Trent Boult NZ 737* 27.45 767 v Ind at Wellington 2014
10= Kemar Roach WI 733! 27.04 733 v NZ at Bridgetown 2014
Peter Siddle Aus 733 29.37 816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013
