BCCI congratulates Virat Kohli for becoming the number one ranked Test batsman

Virat Kohli is currently in England where he is leading the Indian team in the five-match Test series against England. The first match took place at Edgbaston in Birmingham and the visiting team slumped to defeat by 31 runs. However, Kohli turned out to be a massive success in the batting lineup. His past records on English soil weren’t something to cherish about.

Nevertheless, he scored 149 runs in the first innings to improve his record in the country. Moreover, his maiden Test century in British territory helped India to nearly reach England‘s first innings score. While the other batsmen failed to find their feet, the Indian skipper took the bowling by the scruff of their necks and shouldered his team out of the precarious position.

Sam Curran’s whirlwind half-century put forth a target of 194 for the visiting team to track down and Virat was again expected to play a massive role. He didn’t disappoint and scored 51 runs to keep India’s hopes alive in the encounter. To his agony, soon after reaching his fifty, all-rounder Ben Stokes nipped him out to put a massive dent in his team’s endeavour to victory.

Virat moves to top the rankings

Thereafter, India couldn’t survive the venom spewed by the English bowlers. After the defeat, Virat expressed his disappointment, but from a personal front, he has reasons to cherish. The Delhi-born cricketer recently became ICC’s number one ranked Test batsman with 934 rating points. He overtook Steve Smith, who is currently serving a 12-month ban from Cricket Australia (CA).

He also became the first Indian batsman to reach the pinnacle of the rankings in the format after Sachin Tendulkar achieved the same in 2011. In the meantime, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) showed it’s delight and congratulated Virat.

The cricketing body took to Twitter and wrote, “Numero Uno! #TeamIndia captain @imVkohli overtakes Steve Smith to become the new no.1 batsman in the ICC Test rankings. He is the 1st Indian to be No.1 since the great @sachin_rt who achieved this in 2011.”

Here is BCCI’s tweet

Numero Uno! #TeamIndia captain @imVkohli overtakes Steve Smith to become the new no.1 batsman in the ICC Test rankings. He is the 1st Indian to be No.1 since the great @sachin_rt who achieved this in 2011. pic.twitter.com/Q6ZXWnM9vh

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 5, 2018

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