Returning to the Indian Test team, Ajinkya Rahane moved up to 37th while Shardul Thakur moved up to 94th in the latest ICC rankings for batsmen released on Wednesday. Despite missing out on a place in the playing XI for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Ashwin continues to top the list of Test bowlers.
In a special achievement, three Australian batsmen have occupied the top three positions in the rankings. Marnus Labuschagne continues at the top while Steve Smith and Travis Head, who scored centuries in the WTC final win against India at The Oval, are in the next two spots. Despite India’s 209-run defeat in the WTC final, Rahane managed to come back to 37th position with the help of innings of 89 and 46.
Shardul, who scored a half-century in the first innings, has gained six places. Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant, who is recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident, continues to lead the list among Indian batsmen at the 10th position. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli remained static at 12th and 13th position respectively. Veteran off-spinner Ashwin remains the top-ranked Test bowler. His fellow spinner Ravindra Jadeja is at the ninth position.
Injured fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who last played a Test in July 2022, is at eighth position with a loss of two places. Labushen is on top of the batting list with 903 rating points. Smith has moved up one place to the second spot after his knocks of 121 and 34 against India.
Head, who scored a century in the WTC final with scores of 163 and 18, has moved up three places to a career-best third position. The race for second place, however, is very close. Smith has 885 while Head has 884 and fourth-placed New Zealand’s Kane Williamson has 883 points.
It is very rare to see three batsmen from the same team in the top three. The last time this happened in the Test rankings was in 1984 when West Indies’ Gordon Greenidge (810 points), Clive Lloyd (787 points) and Larry Gomes (773 points) finished in the top three.
Australia’s wicketkeeper Alex Carey has also gained 11 places to reach 36th position. He played innings of 48 and 66 not out. In the bowlers’ list, spinner Nathan Lyon has gained two places to be sixth while pacer Scott Boland has gained five places to reach 36th position.
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