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Home  » Cricket » ICC Test rankings: Kohli maintains lead; Bumrah enters top 10

ICC Test rankings: Kohli maintains lead; Bumrah enters top 10

August 27, 2019 16:31 IST
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Jasprit Bumrah, the fastest Indian pacer to 50 wickets, is now seventh in the bowlers' list after a leap of nine places owing to his five-wicket haul against the West Indies.

Jasprit Bumrah

IMAGE: Jasprit Bumrah celebrates the wicket of West Indies opener John Campbell during the first Test in Antigua. Photograph: BCCI

India captain Virat Kohli maintained his slender six-point lead over Steve Smith while speedster Jasprit Bumrah made his maiden entry into the top-10 of the latest ICC Test rankings released on Tuesday.

 

The biggest gainer, however, was all-rounder Ben Stokes following his stupendous effort in the third Test against Australia at Headingley. It has helped him reach career-best positions among batsmen and all-rounders. He is now 13th among batsmen and second among all-rounders.

The top-ranked Kohli has 910 points while Smith, with 904, is placed second. Kane Williamson and Cheteshwar Pujara are distant third and fourth respectively.

Indian Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, with scores of 81 and 102 in the first Test against the West Indies, jumped 10 places to be 11th in the list.

Bumrah, the fastest Indian pacer to 50 wickets, is now seventh in the bowlers' list after a leap of nine places owing to his five-wicket haul against West Indies. Bumrah is in the top 10 for the first time after taking six wickets, including an astonishing five for seven in the second innings. His previous best was 15th position in January this year. Mohammad Shami (up two places to 19th) and Ishant Sharma (up four places to 21st) have also gained after the Antigua Test.

IMAGE: Jasprit Bumrah, right, with West Indies bowling greats Curtly Ambrose, right, and Andy Roberts. Photograph: BCCI

For the West Indies, Kemar Roach's haul of five wickets has helped him move from 11th to eighth position among bowlers while Roston Chase has gone up from 45th to 38th.

Stokes, who scored a match-winning 135 not out in the second innings to guide the team to an epic series-levelling one-wicket win and also took four important wickets, has advanced 13 slots to a career-best 13th place in the batting rankings. He had a previous best of 19th position in October 2017.

Stokes has also moved up two places to grab the second position among all-rounders for the first time in his career, having occupied third position in September 2017. He has gained a handsome 44 points after the Headingly effort and is now on 411 points, only 22 behind Jason Holder and with a good chance of overtaking the West Indies captain during the ongoing Ashes series.
 
Captain Joe Root (up two places to seventh) and Joe Denly (up 15 places to 90th) are other England batsmen to move up in the latest rankings update, which also takes into account the first Test between India and the West Indies in Antigua and the second of two Tests between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Colombo.

Fast bowler Jofra Archer is another one to make impressive gains. He has moved up to 43rd position after only his second Test, finishing with eight wickets in Headingly including a remarkable six for 45 in the first innings.

Australia’s, Pat Cummins remains comfortably at the top of the bowling list despite losing six points while his fellow fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has moved from 15th to 12th place after finishing with nine wickets in the match. Batsman Marnus Labuschagne's two half-centuries have lifted him 45 places to 37th.

Sri Lanka may have lost the second Test to New Zealand, but captain Dimuth Karunaratne has continued his good run, reaching a career-best sixth position after scores of 65 and 21, while Dhananjaya de Silva has gained 10 places to reach 46th position.

For the visiting side, player of the match Tom Latham has moved up five places to a career-best eighth position while batsman BJ Watling, all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme, fast bowler Trent Boult and the spin pair of William Somerville and Ajaz Patel have all gained in the latest rankings update.

The 1-1 series draw meant that there was no change of positions in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings with New Zealand and Sri Lanka remaining in second and sixth positions, respectively.

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