Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Jasprit Bumrah’s scintillating performance in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia has elevated him to the highest rating points ever achieved by an Indian bowler in Test cricket as he consolidated his lead as the No. 1 bowler in the recent rankings update. With rating points of 907, Bumrah moved past Ravichandran Ashwin’s 904 rating points, achieved in December 2016, and makes him the highest-ever ranked Indian Test bowler in ICC rankings history. The 907 points placed the pacer as joint-17th in the all-time list – with Derek Underwood of England.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins also benefitted from his Boxing Day heroics and jumped 15 rating points and went up by a place to sit at No. 3 in the bowling rankings.
Cummins also secures a third place in the Test All-Rounder Rankings, on the back of the above bowling exploits and 90 crucial runs during Australia’s stellar win in Melbourne.
South African pacer Marco Jansen continued his rise in the Test arena, moving up six places to claim the fifth spot. His seven-wicket haul against Pakistan in the Centurion Boxing Day Test pushed him past the 800-point mark for the first time.
In the batting rankings, several players made notable strides. South Africa’s Aiden Markram climbed back into the top 20, thanks to his resilient knocks of 89 and 37 in the Centurion Test. His efforts were key to South Africa’s victory over Pakistan, which secured their spot in the ICC Test Championship final.
India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his meteoric rise, moving up one spot to a career-best fourth position. Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel also reached a personal milestone, jumping three places to a career-best sixth, while Australia’s Steve Smith climbed to seventh after his gritty innings in the Boxing Day Test.
Nitish Kumar Reddy of India made the most dramatic leap, rising 20 places to 53rd in the Test batting rankings after a stellar performance in the Melbuorne Test.
Meanwhile, in the Zimbabwe-Afghanistan Boxing Day Test, double hundreds by Afghanistan’s Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi propelled them to 52nd and 57th places, respectively, in the rankings.
Zimbabwean batters Sean Williams (19th) and Craig Ervine (47th) also made gains, with Williams achieving the best rating for a Zimbabwean batter since Brendan Taylor in 2014.
In T2OI, New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner entered the top 10 of the T20I bowling rankings, while Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka closed in on the top five batters.
