Rishabh Pant overtakes Kohli in Test rankings
Dubai, Oct 23: Rishabh Pant on Wednesday overtook his superstar India teammate Virat Kohli to reach the sixth spot in the ICC Test rankings for batters.
Fresh from a counter-attacking 99 in the second innings of the opening Test against New Zealand, Pant gained three spots in the rankings while Kohli, who made a fluent 70 in Bengaluru, dropped a place to be eighth.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal remains India's highest ranked batter at four. India captain Rohit Sharma dropped two places to be joint 15th alongside Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne.
England star Joe Root maintains a healthy lead at the top of the charts.
New Zealand duo of Rachin Ravindra (up 36 places to 18th) and Devon Conway (up 12 spots to 36th) also made good ground on the latest list for Test batters, while teammate Matt Henry (up two rungs to ninth with a new career-high rating) was the big winner in bowlers' category.
Henry picked up eight wickets during the Black Caps' drought-breaking eight-wicket victory over India in Bengaluru, while teammate Will O'Rourke (up two spots to 39th) was also rewarded for his seven scalps from the same match.
Pakistan spinner Noman Ali was re-instated at 17th on the rankings following his 11 wickets across two innings against England, while teammate Sajid Khan gained 22 places to move to 50th after he was adjudged Player of the Match in the same contest.
India's pace spearhead remains at the top of the bowlers' rankings followed by teammate R Ashwin. Retaining the seventh sport, Ravindra Jadeja is another Indian in the top-10.
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Allahabad HC orders FIR against Rahul Gandhi in dual citizenship case
Lucknow (PTI): The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered an FIR be filed against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in connection with an alleged dual citizenship controversy.
The bench permitted the state government to hand over the probe to any central probe agency after registration of the FIR.
The order was passed by a bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi on a petition filed by S Vignesh Shishir, who had challenged a January 28 order of a special MP/MLA court rejecting his plea for an FIR against Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The special court had earlier held that it was not competent to adjudicate on issues related to citizenship.
The petitioner, a BJP worker from Karnataka, had sought registration of an FIR and a detailed probe into the matter, levelling allegations against Gandhi under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Official Secrets Act, the Foreigners Act and the Passport Act.
The complaint was initially filed before the special MP/MLA court in Rae Bareli. However, on the petitioner's request, the high court transferred the case to Lucknow on December 17, 2025.
The MP/MLA court in Lucknow subsequently dismissed the plea on January 28, 2026, prompting the petitioner to approach the high court, which has now ordered registration of an FIR.
In its order, the bench said that from a bare perusal of the allegations, prima facie cognizable offences were made out against Gandhi and hence the allegations required to be investigated.
The bench said that the special court should have looked into whether the allegations prima facie made out any cognizable offences or not, but it failed to consider it.
Earlier, Deputy Solicitor General of India SB Pandey produced the central government's records in the court relating to the citizenship controversy surrounding Gandhi.
Government counsel VK Singh also consented on behalf of the UP government that the allegations prima facie made out cognizable offences.
After having a detailed hearing, the bench found that the material on records showed that Gandhi had committed "cognizable offences" in having dual citizenship, and these allegations required to be probed.
The petitioner has alleged that Rahul is a UK Citizen and incorporated a company named M/S Backops Ltd in August 2003.
It was further submitted that Gandhi categorically admitted and voluntarily declared his nationality as British, having a Director Identification ID and London and Hampshire addresses.
In his petition, Shishir claimed that Rahul submitted the company's annual returns in October 2005 and October 2006, listing his nationality as British.
Thereafter, the company was dissolved through a dissolution application in February 2009.
According to the petitioner, the material placed before the court includes records suggesting that Rahul Gandhi may have been listed as a voter in the United Kingdom and participated in electoral processes there.
During the course of the hearing, the high court earlier directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to place all relevant records, including classified documents, before the court.
