South Africa’s AB de Villiers has overtaken Steven Smith as the No 1 Test batsman in the world following the first Test against India.
The rankings were updated on Tuesday.
De Villiers is now the No 1 ranked batsman in the world in both Test and ODI cricket following his scores of 63 and 16 in the Mohali Test. Australia captain Steven Smith, meanwhile, scored 48 and one against New Zealand in Brisbane.
De Villiers had achieved the No 1 batting position for the first time in March 2012 and last was at the summit in January, before he was overtaken by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara following his 203 against New Zealand in Wellington.
De Villiers now leads Smith by just one point but the rise of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and David Warner of Australia means the top seven batsmen are now separated by just 44 points.
India’s Murali Vijay and South Africa’s Dean Elgar are the other top-ranked batsmen to achieve career high rankings – Vijay’s 75 and 47 has vaulted him eight places to 11th, meaning that he has now become India’s highest-ranked batsman. Cheteshwar Pujara has gained five places following his contribution of 31 and 77 but he is still two places behind Vijay in 13th spot.
Elgar has moved up four places to 34th and is one of four batsmen outside the top 20 to achieve career-best rankings, with the others being Adam Voges at 44th (up by five places), Joe Burns at 47th (+56) and Mark Craig at 57th (+8).
Batsmen sliding in the latest rankings following the Brisbane and Mohali Tests include Virat Kohli at 16th (down by five places), Ross Taylor at 17th (-4), Ajinkya Rahane at 24th (-3), BJ Watling at 25th (-2) and Shikhar Dhawan at 38th (-8).
In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Dale Steyn remains the No 1 ranked bowler but following Ravichandran Ashwin’s 5-51 and 3-39, the India off-spinner has returned to the top five after rising three places.
Latest ICC Test rankings:
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Country | Points |
| 1 | (+1) | AB de Villiers | SA | 891 |
| 2 | (-1) | Steve Smith | Aus | 890 |
| 3 | (-) | Joe Root | Eng | 886 |
| 4 | (-) | Hashim Amla | SA | 870 |
| 5 | (+2) | Kane Williamson | NZ | 863 |
| 20 | (-4) | Faf du Plessis | SA | 664 |
| 34 | (+4) | Dean Elgar | SA | 548 |
| 42 | (-2) | JP Duminy | SA | 519 |
