ICC Test Rankings: Kane Williamson grabs top position leaving Steve Smith, Virat Kohli behind: Kane Williamson gained 13 points leaving star players Steve Smith and Virat Kohli behind to become the No.1 in ICC Test rankings batsman in the world.
Kane Williamson hit 129, 21 in 1st Test against Pakistan which helped him reach No.1 spot in ICC Test rankings.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has moved ahead of Australia’s Steve Smith and India’s Virat Kohli to secure the top spot for the batsman in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after his outstanding player of the match contribution in the first Test against Pakistan in Tauranga. Last time Williamson had topped the table towards the end of 2015 but either Smith or Kohli have been ruling it since then. This year too, Smith was at the top for 313 days and Kohli for 51, before Williamson took away and went ahead of them in the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2008.
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On Thursday received an update, which also included performances from the second Test between Australia and India in Melbourne and the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Centurion, Williamson has gained 13 rating points for his effort of 129 and 21 to go 11 points clear of Kohli and 13 ahead of Smith.
Kohli is on paternity leave for the ongoing Test series against Australia while Smith’s MCG batting could not get him good scores.
Ajinkya Rahane, leading in Kohli’s absence, has done exceptionally well after leading India to a series-levelling eight-wicket win in Melbourne with scores of 112 and 27 not out.
Rahane has moved five places ahead in the table to reach sixth position, just one below his career-best of fifth attained in October 2019.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (up two places to seventh) and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (up one place to ninth) have made a movement to mark there places within the top 10.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is another big gainer, moving up 11 spots to a career best-equalling 36th place among batsmen after a handy knock of 57 in his only innings in Melbourne and moving four places upward to reach 14th place among bowlers after finishing with three wickets in the match.
He remains third among all-rounders but has reduced the gap with Jason Holder to seven points.
Debutants Shubman Gill and Mohammad Siraj gave outstanding performances each to book 76th and 77th positions in the list for batsmen and bowlers respectively.
Gill scored 45 and 35 not out opening the innings while Siraj finished with five wickets in the match.
Australia left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc’s four wickets in the match have helped him reach a career best-equalling fifth position.
Matthew Wade’s scores of 30 and 40 as opener helped him reach 50th among batsmen from 55th while Cameron Green has moved 36 slots to reach 115th position.
New Zealand’s Ross Taylor (up three places to 14th) is another New Zealand batsman to move up while 26-year-old fast bowler Kyle Jamieson has reached the top 30 after just five Tests, following his hauls of three for 35 and two for 35 in Tauranga.
For Pakistan, Fawad Alam’s suprising second-innings century has lifted him 80 places to 102nd position while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan’s scores of 71 and 60 have helped him advance 27 places to a career-best 47th position.
Left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has moved from 35th to 33rd after grabbing four wickets in the first innings.
In Centurion, a knock of 199 by Faf du Plessis not only helped him win the Man of the Match award but also gain 14 places to reach 21st position, one behind team-mate Dean Elgar, who too gained four spots after a knock of 95.
Lungi Ngidi has gained four places and is 56th among bowlers.
For Sri Lanka, Dinesh Chandimal’s knocks of 85 and 25 have lifted him three places to 38th while Dhananjaya de Silva (up nine places to 34th) and Kusal Perera (up four places to 60th) have also made notable gains among batsmen.
Left-arm fast bowler Vishwa Fernando has gained two slots to reach 45th position after his three-wicket haul.
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