New Delhi, Feb 28 (Ajit Weekly News) Former England captain Joe Root is back in the top three of the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings, while India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal has advanced to 12th place in the same list.
The updated rankings were released on Wednesday following India’s hard-fought five-wicket win to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
Root, a former top-ranked batter, struck an unbeaten 122 in the first innings to move up two places to third position, apart from moving up three spots to fourth place amongst all-rounders. Left-handed Jaiswal, who started the series in 69th position, has risen three places to 12th after scores of 73 and 37.
Player of the Match, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel’s scores of 90 and 39 have lifted him 31 places to 69th position, while top-order batter Shubman Gill has moved up four spots to 31st position in the batting rankings still led by New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.
England opener Zak Crawley has entered the top 20 for the first time after scores of 42 and 60.
In the bowler’s list, led by Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested from Ranchi Test, veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s five-wicket haul in the second innings has helped him narrow the gap to 21 rating points while retaining his second position. Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav (up 10 places to 32nd) and England’s Shoaib Bashir (up 38 places to 80th) have also attained career bests.
In the Men’s ODI rankings, the biggest mover has been Namibia’s Bernard Scholtz, whose hauls of four for 31 against Nepal and two for 15 against the Netherlands in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 Tri-Series in Kirtipur have lifted him to 11th position and 642 ratings points, the highest position and points tally ever achieved by a Namibia player in ODI cricket.
The Netherlands’ off-spinner Aryan Dutt followed up his six for 34 last week against Namibia with hauls of 2-41 and 3-16 to continue his march up the bowling rankings, reaching joint-36th position. Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus struck 52 against Nepal and picked 3-33 against the Netherlands to move into the top 10 all-rounders for the first time.
The T20I Rankings see Australia batter Travis Head move into the top 20 for the first time after scores of 24, 45 and 33 in the series against New Zealand. Tim David’s quickfire 31 off just 10 balls in the first match see him move up six places to 22nd and past the 600-point barrier for the first time in his career.
Skipper Mitch Marsh rose two places to 15th on the list for T20I batters and 21 spots to 13 for T20I all-rounders following his Player of the Series heroics. The top six bowlers are unchanged, with Australia speedster Josh Hazlewood (at seventh place) the only new one in the top 10, while New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson rose 20 spots to 29th on the same category after his five wickets in the series.
–Ajit Weekly News
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News Credits – I A N S
