Gill achieves career-best ranking in Tests; Brook becomes new top-ranked batter

New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) India captain Shubman Gill has achieved a career-best position in ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings, even as England batter Harry Brook has dethroned Joe Root to be the new top-ranked batter in the longer format.

Gill, whose knocks of 269 and 161 made him only the second player in history to register scores of above 150 in both innings of a Test match and claim the second highest aggregate ever by a batter in Tests with 430 runs, has jumped 15 places to be at a career-best sixth position.

Gill’s previous best was 14th position which he reached in September last year and started the ongoing series ranked 23rd. Brook, meanwhile, rises to top of the Test batters’ rankings following him hitting a magnificent 158 in the first innings of the second Test in Birmingham.

Brook had earlier been number one Test batter for one week in December last year and him taking the top spot in the rankings again means Root is pushed to the second spot, along with a reduction of 18 rating points.

Other batters to make notable gains after the Edgbaston Test are India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who is up six places to 39th after valuable knocks of 89 and 69 not out, and England wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith, who is in the top 10 for the first time after his solid innings of 184 not out and 88 lifted him 16 slots to tenth place.

India’s new-ball bowlers Mohammad Siraj and Akash Deep, who had a five-for each, have also made huge inroads in the Test bowling rankings. Siraj’s seven wickets in the match have lifted him six places to 22nd while Akash has jumped 39 places to a career-best 45th position after finishing with a maiden ten-wicket match haul.

South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder, who made headlines with his unbeaten 367 against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, has jumped 34 spots to a career-best 22nd position in the batting rankings list. He also picked three wickets, which has now moved him up by four places to 48th among bowlers.

In terms of all-rounders’ rankings, Mulder made a great jump by reaching a career-best third position and is now only behind Jadeja and Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Others to gain after performances at Bulawayo include South Africa batters David Bedingham, who is up four places to 43rd and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who has jumped eight places to 60th position. In terms of bowlers, Corbin Bosch is up six places to 51st position.

After the second Test between the West Indies and Australia in Grenada, Cameron Green (up four places to 45th) and Beau Webster (up two places to 50th) have made some gains from an Australian perspective. Roston Chase (up four places to 81st) and Brandon King (up 60 places to 83rd) are the West Indian batters to advance in the list. The West Indies fast-bowling pair of Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph have both gained six places to reach 29th and 31st positions.

In the Men’s ODI Batting Rankings, after Sri Lanka got a 2-1 series win over Bangladesh, Charith Asalanka’s 106 in the first match helped him up two slots to sixth place while Kusal Mendis’s 124 in the final match lifted him into the top 10 for the first time.

Their team-mate Janith Liyanage (up seven places to 44th) and Bangladesh’s Towhid Hridoy (up seven places to 51st) are others to move up the batting rankings. Sri Lanka leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga is also back in the top 10 of the ODI bowling rankings, advancing 11 places to eighth position.

--IANS

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