The ICC Men’s Test batting rankings’ top position has been upheld by Joe Root, England’s premier batter following his dual centuries against Sri Lanka in their 190 run victory at Lord’s. The scores of 143 and 103 helped him acquire a 63 point advantage over second place Kane Williamson. He is currently at a rating of 922 just one below his best ever score: 923 points which he achieved when playing against India at Edgbaston in July 2022.
Only Len Hutton, Jack Hobbs and Peter May have accumulated more points than Root among England batsmen. In positions three to five are Daryl Mitchell from New Zealand, Steve Smith from Australia respectively and Harry Brook from England; followed by Indian trio led by captain Rohit Sharma together with opening partner Yashaswi Jaiswal as well as talismanic batter Virat Kohli.
Another drummer who has taken great leaps forward on the Test rankings is Gus Atkinson pacer for England after Root. His five-wicket haul during the second innings earned him Player of the Match award at Lord’s where he made 118 – his first-class century off a maiden innings.
Consequently, he found a way of jumping an incredible 80 spots higher to position number 96 in the ranks for batters while bowlers list went up by fourteen places making him sit at position number 28 instead. Ravindra Jadeja on the other hand tops up all-rounders’ list but he is now ranked number seventeen after going up by forty-eight places.
Some other prominent movements that need to be acknowledged include Kamindu Mendis whose ascendency of eleven spots to twenty-fifth was registered along with those of Pathum Nissanka who came back into list as number eighty-two and Jamie Smith advanced five places into thirty-seventh position. Asitha Fernando’s eight wickets were enough for him to get into the top 10 bowlers ranking for the first time therefore occupying the eight position.
The six wickets Bangladesh propelled them to their first ever 2-0 series win over Pakistan, resulting in some notable advances for their players. Wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das has jumped up to a career-high fifteenth place after he steered his side from a precarious 26/6 in the first innings with an innings of solid 138 and added further 165 runs together with Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Batters Babar Azam is outside top 10 as he dropped down to number twelve having been in bad form lately which saw him losing many points here. On the other hand Mehidy has scored important 78 runs thus climbed up from sixty fifth position (previously) among batters while he registered figures of 5-61 in the first round as well and moved one up from23rd to 22nd among bowlers at least also be seventh all-rounder (again).
