After donning a new avatar as a Test opener, Rohit Sharma hit a purple patch with the bat, notching up scores of 176, 127, 14 and 212 as India whitewashed South Africa 3-0 across Vizag, Pune and Ranchi.
Rohit Sharma has been a dominant force in the shorter formats across last few years. He is now only the second batsman after India captain Virat Kohli to figure in the top-10 in all 3 formats.
Rohit had reached a career-high 17th spot in the ICC Test rankings for batsman after his twin hundreds in the Vizag Test against South Africa. However, a failure in Pune saw him slip to the 22nd spot. Rohit moved 12 spots to break into the top 10 for the 1st time in his Test career after his maiden Test double hundred in Ranchi.
Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane who registered a ton in the final test in Ranchi, has moved to No.5. Virat Kohli, who made a career 254 not out in the second Test but did not get any other big scores in the series, retained his No.2 spot but fell behind in points. That means Steve Smith is 11 points clear of Kohli at the top of the Test rankings.
Smith continues to lead the Test rankings for batsmen while the top 5 comprises of Kohli, Kane Williamson, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane in that order.
When it come to bowler's rankings, Australia's Pat Cummins is well ahead of the chasing pack with 908 points. Kagiso Rabada has retained his 2nd spot with 839 points.