Joe Root has reclaimed the top spot for batsmen after six years in the latest edition of the ICC Test rankings. The other big news coming out of these rankings is that opening batsman Rohit Sharma is now the highest-ranked Indian batsman in the Test rankings and has cracked the top five. Captain Virat Kohli, meanwhile, has been placed a rank below at sixth.
Other changes in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Menβs Test Player Rankings for the week:
πΉ Rohit Sharma overtakes Virat Kohli
πΉ James Anderson enters top fiveDetails π https://t.co/woGyneJVGk pic.twitter.com/9mFl314BS8
— ICC (@ICC) September 1, 2021
Root has been in excellent form thought the home series against India. The 30-year-old batsman and captain of the team started at the fifth position before the series but after scoring 507 runs in three tests against India has jumped above Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. He leads Williamson by 15 points after scoring a magnificent 121 in England’s only innings at the test match in Headingly, Leeds. Root has topped the rankings with 916 points.
π π πππ ππ.π π
England captain @root66 surges to the top spot in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's Test Player Rankings for batting π
More on his rise π
— ICC (@ICC) September 1, 2021
Root was the top-ranked batsman in December 2015 but since then wasn’t able to recapture it until now. He was overtaken by Williamson. Smith and Kohli have also gained the top spot since then. Since Ab De Villiers in November 2015, the top spot has mostly revolved around the Fab 4 batsmen.
On the Indian side, Rohit Sharma who was ranked 54th in October 2019 has now cracked the top five of the Test Batting Rankings for the first time in his career. He has surpassed his captain, Kohli who is at sixth. He scored 19 and 59 in his last Test Match in Leeds and has surprised everyone with his batting performance in England. He is now got 773 points, in comparison to Kohli’s 766 points. The last time an Indian batsman, other than Kohli, was ranked higher in the ICC Test Batting Rankings was in November 2017 when Cheteshwar Pujara was second and Kohli was fifth. Rishabh Pant has dropped out of the top ten in the latest edition.
Among the bowlers, James Anderson who was lethal throughout the test in Leeds jumped to the 5th position in the Test Bowlers Rankings. Jasprit Bumrah, also, moved a rank up from the 11th to the 10th position. English bowler Stuart Broad has moved out of the Top 10. Meanwhile, Indian bowler Ravichandran Ashwin remained at the second spot.