South African pacer Kagiso Rabada, who finished the first Test against India with figures of 3 for 34 and 2 for 41, on January 9 became the No 1 Test bowler in the ICC’s latest rankings. Rabada replaced England’s James Anderson to claim the No 1 spot.
Rabada played a vital role in providing his side victory over India in the first Test at Cape Town. Faf du Plessis’ men thrashed the Indian side by 72 runs to lead the three-match series 1-0.
James Anderson, who started the 4th Ashes Test in Sydney as the number-one ranked bowler, dropped by a point after his team suffered a defeat against Australia. Anderson is now at No 2 in the ranking released by the ICC.
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Rabada is the seventh South African bowler to top the ICC Test Bowling Rankings after Aubrey Faulkner, Hugh Tayfield, Peter Pollock, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.
Besides Rabada, another South African pacer Vernon Philander, who won the Man of the Match award in Cape Town Test, made it to the top 20 bowlers in Test cricket. The 32-year-old has earned 67 points, which, in turn, has lifted him from 12th to 6th position.
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India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pat Cummins of Australia have achieved career-high rankings. Kumar has vaulted eight places to 22nd following figures of four for 87 and two for 33, while Cummins has leapt eight places and is now in 28th position after match figures of eight for 119, which also earned him the player of the match award.
|
RANK |
PLAYER |
POINTS |
|
1 |
Kagiso Rabada |
888 |
|
2 |
James Anderson |
887 |
|
3 |
Ravindra Jadeja |
861 |
|
4 |
R. Ashwin |
830 |
|
5 |
Josh Hazlewood |
814 |
|
6 |
Vernon Philander |
806 |
|
7 |
Rangana Herath |
799 |
|
8 |
Neil Wagner |
784 |
|
9 |
Nathan Lyon |
769 |
|
9 |
Mitchell Starc |
769 |
In batsmen rankings, England’s captain Joe Root gained 2 points to become the No 2 batsman in Test cricket followed by Australian Steve Smith at No 1. Root displaced Indian captain Virat Kohli to claim the No 2 rank. Virat, who started the 2018 season with a loss, slipped to No 3, while Cheteshwar Pujara has slipped from No 3 to No 5.
|
RANK |
PLAYERS |
POINTS |
|
1 |
Steve Smith |
947 |
|
2 |
Joe Root |
881 |
|
3 |
Virat Kohli |
880 |
|
4 |
Kane Williamson |
855 |
|
5 |
C. Pujara |
848 |
|
6 |
David Warner |
827 |
|
7 |
Azhar Ali |
755 |
|
8 |
D. Chandimal |
743 |
|
9 |
Alastair Cook |
742 |
|
10 |
Hashim Amla |
740 |
There is no change in the top-five of the all-rounders’ list, which is still headed by Shakib Al Hasan, with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in second and third place, respectively.
