DUBAI: India’s Rishabh Pant became the top-ranked wicket-keeper batsman in the world after his sensational series-winning 89-run knock in the Brisbane match pushed him to a career-best 13th spot in the ICC Test batting rankings, issued on Wednesday.
Pant, who won many admirers for his fearless and mature batting, has 691 points in his kitty. South Africa”s Quinton de Kock (677) is the next best wicket-keeper batsman in the list in the 15th position. Australia batsman Marnus Labuschagne”s first-innings century in Brisbane took him past India skipper Virat Kohli (862 points) to third position with a career-best 878 rating points. Kohli missed the action as he was on paternity leave. Young India opener Shubman Gill continued his upward trajectory, moving up from 68th to 47th spot after a crucial 91 in the second innings of the fourth Test, which India won by three wickets on Tuesday. Middle-order mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara moved up one place to seventh after his dogged effort, while Mohammad Siraj jumped 32 places to 45th after taking six wickets in the match, including a five-wicket haul in the second innings. Debutant Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur too gained in rankings following their useful contributions with both bat and ball. Washington entered the rankings in 82nd (batting) and 97th (bowling) positions, while Thakur re-entered the batting list in 113th position and bowling list in 65th position.
Australia captain Tim Paine moved up three spots to 42nd after scores of 50 and 27 while fast bowler Josh Hazlewood leapfrogged New Zealand”s Tim Southee to the fourth spot after grabbing six wickets in the match, including a haul of five for 57 in the first innings. England’s Joe Root has returned to the top five with his highest rating points tally (738) in two years after scoring a first-innings 228 to help his team win the first Test against Sri Lanka by seven wickets in Galle. Root has advanced six places, overtaking the likes of Pakistan”s Babar Azam and Pujara in the process. England spinners Jack Leach and Dominic Bess made notable progress after their five-wicket hauls in Galle. Leach”s second innings” figures of five for 122 lifted him three places to 40th while Bess”s five for 30 in the first innings took him from 67th to 50th position. Jonny Bairstow (up five places to 58th in batting) and Sam Curran (up two places to 39th in bowling) also gained.
For Sri Lanka, Lahiru Thirimanne’s second innings century helped him progress 12 places to 87th position while left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya (up six places to 47th) and medium pacer Asitha Fernando (up 11 places to 96th) also gained.
