Virat Kohli
India captain Virat Kohli (left) plays a shot as South Africa bowler Morne Morkel is down on the pitch during the 3rd Test in Johannesburg on January 24.Reuters

India captain Virat Kohli surpassed West Indies' batting legend Brian Lara after leading the team to a historic 63-run victory over South Africa in the third Test in Johannesburg.

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On Saturday (January 27), India achieved only their third ever Test success in South Africa. However, they lost the series 1-2. Kohli joined Rahul Dravid (2006) and MS Dhoni (2010) as the skippers to have led the side to Test wins in the "Rainbow Nation".

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After the win at The Wanderers, there was more good news for Kohli and India. He went past Lara in the all-time points table for Test batsman in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Rankings and India retained the Test Championship mace for being the number one side in the world.

The 29-year-old Dehli right-hander now has 912 rating points. He has moved from 31st to 26th in the all-time list headed by the legendary Australian Sir Don Bradman (961 points).

Sunil Gavaskar is the top Indian with 916 points. Kohli will have to wait for few more months to try and surpass Gavaskar as India will not play Tests till June when they host Afghanistan in one-off game in Bengaluru.

It was one of the famous Test wins for Indiain Johannesburg. With all the focus being on the pitch, which was slammed by many as "dangerous", Kohli showed his class with scores of 54 and 41.

Thanks his important knocks, he gained 12 points. However, he still is in second position in ICC Test Rankings. Australian leader Steve Smith still is on top with 947 points.

"Kohli, while moving from 31st to 26th position, has leapfrogged Lara (911), Kevin Pietersen (909), Hashim Amla (907), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (901) and Michael Clarke (900)," ICC said.

List of batsmen with 900 or more points in ICC Test Batsmen Rankings

BATSMEN Team POINTS
Don Bradman AUS 961
Steve Smith AUS 947
Len Hutton ENG 945
Ricky Ponting AUS 942
Jack Hobbs ENG 942
Peter May ENG 941
Garry Sobers WI 938
Kumar Sangakkara SL 938
Vivian Richards WI 938
Clyde Walcott WI 938
Jacques Kallis SA 935
Matthew Hayden AUS 935
AB de Villiers SA 935
Mohammad Yousuf PAK 933
Graeme Pollock SA 927
Everton Weekes WI 927
Doug Walters AUS 922
Dudley Nourse SA 922
Michael Hussey AUS 921
Neil Harvey AUS 921
Joe Root ENG 917
Denis Compton ENG 917
Sunil Gavaskar IND 916
George Headley WI 915
Ken Barrington ENG 914
Virat Kohli IND 912
Brian Lara WI 911
Kevin Pietersen ENG 909
Hashim Amla SA 907
Shivnarine Chanderpaul WI 901
Michael Clarke AUS 900

ICC Test Batsmen Rankings (as on 28 January, following Johannesburg Test) - Top 10

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Average Highest Rating
1 ( - ) Steve Smith Australia 947! 63.75 947 v Eng at Sydney 2018
2 ( - ) Virat Kohli India 912! 53.40 912 v SA at Johannesburg 2018
3 ( - ) Joe Root England 881 53.28 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
4 ( - ) Kane Williamson New Zealand 855 50.62 893 v Aus at Perth 2015
5 ( - ) David Warner Australia 827 48.77 880 v NZ at Perth 2015
6 ( - ) Cheteshwar Pujara India 810 50.51 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017
7 (+1) Hashim Amla South Africa 771 49.08 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
8 (-1) Azhar Ali Pakistan 755 46.62 787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016
9 ( - ) Dinesh Chandimal Sri Lanka 743! 43.94 743 v Ind at Delhi 2017
10 ( - ) Alastair Cook England 742 46.35 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
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