England Test skipper Joe Root jumped two places to occupy the third spot in the latest ICC Test Rankings on the back of his match-winning 218 in the first Test against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. On the other hand, Team India skipper Virat Kohli slipped two places to the fifth spot.
Root, who guided his team to a memorable 227-run victory that kept England in contention for the ICC World Test Championship final, has reached 883 rating points. This is his highest since September 2017, after a fabulous run in the sub-continent has seen him accumulate 684 runs in three Tests, two of which were in Sri Lanka.
Joe Root is now 36 points behind top-ranked Kane Williamson and trails Steve Smith by only eight points. Marnus Labuschagne currently occupies the fourth spot in the latest ICC Test Rankings which makes the competition for the five slots intriguing.
For India, Rishabh Pant’s knock of 91 in the first innings has helped him become the first full-time wicketkeeper from his country to reach 700 rating points as he retained 13th position among batsmen. Shubman Gill has progressed seven places to 40th position while all-rounder Washington Sundar is in 81st place after moving up two slots.
Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar Highlights One Change For 2nd Test Against England
Speaking about the bowlers in the latest ICC Test Rankings, James Anderson is up to third from sixth and only four points behind compatriot Stuart Broad, a fellow-member of the 500-wicket club. Spinners Jack Leach and Dominic Bess are both at career-best rating points, moving up to 37th and 41st positions, respectively. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem too has gained two places to reach 85th position among bowlers.
Hasan Ali, who made a supreme comeback with a 10-wicket haul in the second Test against South Africa has lifted him a huge 21 places to 32nd position.
Here are ICC Test Rankings:
💥 Joe Root enters top three
🔼 Babar Azam, Ben Stokes move up one spot
📉 Virat Kohli slips to No.5A lot of changes in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Player Rankings for batting 👀
Full rankings: https://t.co/OMjjVwOboH pic.twitter.com/TRwJwuRx88
— ICC (@ICC) February 10, 2021
🔥 Anderson moves up three spots to No.3
↗️ Ashwin, Bumrah climb upBowlers make significant gains in the latest update of the @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Player Rankings.
Full list: https://t.co/OMjjVwOboH pic.twitter.com/XELbZKy2jY
— ICC (@ICC) February 10, 2021
