Dubai [UAE], January 10 (ANI): Australia’s thumping series win over Pakistan in Sydney and India’s sensational bowling spell against South Africa enforced a major shift in the ICC Men’s Test rankings.
As India and South Africa played the shortest Test in the history of cricket in Newlands, fast pacers scalping at a tremendous rate forced a change as ICC announced updated rankings on Wednesday.
India’s star speedster Jasprit Bumrah overtook compatriot Ravindra Jadeja and moved to the fourth spot (787).
Mohammed Siraj’s 6/15 and 1/31 helped him move 13 places up and clinch his career-high 17th rank (661).
South African pacer Lungi Ngidi moved up nine spots to take 28th place. Kagiso Rabada, who showed his class, was overtaken by Australian skipper Pat Cummins.
The World Cup-winning captain moved to the second spot on the rankings list (858). The Australian captain capped off a sensational performance and was crowned Player of the Series after the conclusion of the Pakistan series.
Cummins’s teammate, Josh Hazlewood, with a rich vein of form also enjoyed a successful series as well. He moved from the 11th spot to a tie for seventh (761) with England’s experienced pacer James Anderson.
In terms of batters rankings, Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne moved to fourth (802) spot, but is well behind his teammate Steve Smith (818) who has a firm hold on the third position.
Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan’s knocks of 88 and 28 helped him move 10 spots up to 17th.
Aiden Markram’s resolute ton on a tricky Newlands surface saw him enter the top 20 (667). Virat Kohli (775) and Rohit Sharma (748) moved to sixth and 10th, respectively, after the conclusion of the series.
In terms of the ODI format, Sri Lanka’s two ODI matches against Zimbabwe saw a good amount of movement in the ODI rankings. The most notable was on the bowling aspect of the game.
Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana moved to a career-high rating (634) and rank (11th) with four wickets across the matches.
The most noteworthy move on the batting side came through Sri Lanka batter Charith Asalanka, who moved into the top 20 with 101 runs. (ANI)
