In the latest ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings, Joe Root (887) of England has dethroned Marnus Labuschagne (877) to claim the top spot. Labuschagne held the No. 1 ranking for over six months since December 2022, but Root’s stellar performance in the thrilling opening Ashes Test at Edgbaston propelled him to the top position.
Root’s unbeaten 118 and 46 in the Edgbaston Test, which came in a losing cause against Australia, elevated him five places to become the new No. 1 Test batter. Labuschagne, on the other hand, had a relatively underwhelming outing in the Ashes opener, causing him to drop to third place. New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (883) now occupies the second position, climbing two places in the tally.
The race for the top spot among Test batters is incredibly tight, with just 26 rating points separating the top six players. Fellow Australians Travis Head and Steve Smith also slipped in the rankings, with Head dropping to fourth and Smith falling four places to sixth.
Australian opener Usman Khawaja, who was named the Player of the Match for his batting heroics, achieved a career-best ranking of seventh. Rishabh Pant (10th) is the only Indian in the top 10, while India’s captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are placed 12th and 14th, respectively.
In the bowling rankings, Ravichandran Ashwin of India retained his position as the No. 1 bowler with 860 points. England’s James Anderson follows closely in second place with 829 points. South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada surpassed Australia’s Pat Cummins to claim the third spot with 825 points.
Among Indian bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah (772) and Ravindra Jadeja (765) hold the eighth and ninth positions, respectively, with no changes in their rankings. England’s Ollie Robinson (5th) and Stuart Broad both moved up one place to enter the top 10, while Moeen Ali made a return to the bowling chart at the 52nd spot.
In the ODI rankings, the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier has led to some minor changes. Oman’s captain Zeeshan Maqsood climbed two places to third overall in the list for all-rounders after his valuable contribution with bat and ball in the upset victory against Ireland. USA’s Saurabh Netravalkar made a significant leap to 18th in the bowling chart, becoming the first USA player to reach the top 20 in either batting or bowling in the ODI rankings.
Joshua Little (32nd) of Ireland and Aayan Afzal Khan (37th) of UAE also made progress in the rankings, while Kariyawasa Asalanka of Sri Lanka, Aqib Ilyas Sulehri of Oman, and Sean Williams of Zimbabwe enjoyed notable improvements in the batting chart.
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