Rishabh Pant breezes past Virat Kohli in latest ICC men’s Test batter rankings

Dubai [UAE], October 23 (ANI): Rishabh Pant went past India’s stalwart Virat Kohli following his successful return to red-ball cricket in the latest ICC Men’s Test Batter Rankings.

Plenty of changes were on the cards in the ICC Men’s Test Batter Rankings after four cricketing giants engaged in a thriller last week.

During India’s opening Test defeat against New Zealand, Pant garnered scores of 20 and 99 against the Kiwis in just his third Test match back from a life-threatening car accident. Following those efforts, the dynamic left-hander gained three places, overtook Kohli and moved up to sixth place in the latest rankings for Test batters.

England’s vibrant star Joe Root continued to maintain a healthy lead at the top of the Test batter rankings, with trio Yashasvi Jaiswal (fourth), Pant (sixth) and Kohli (equal eighth) the only players from India featuring inside the top 10 of a tightly contested category.

Root’s compatriot Ben Duckett is now on the verge of breaking inside the top 10. He showed progress and moved up three places to equal 11th on the list for Test batters. His 114 against Pakistan played a major role in it.

Pakistan’s Salman Agha gained eight places to move to 14th with a new career-high rating following scores of 31 and 63 in the same match in Multan.

Salman has slammed 50-plus scores in three of his last four Test innings. The 30-year-old is now the highest-rated Test batter from Pakistan after overtaking teammates Babar Azam (equal 19th), Mohammad Rizwan (21st) and Saud Shakeel (27th), courtesy of his recent heroics.

New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra moved 36 places up to 18th, and Devon Conway progressed 12 spots to 36th in the latest list for Test batters.

Meanwhile, their teammate Matt Henry, who moved to the ninth spot with a new career-high rating, was the big winner on the updated rankings for Test bowlers.

Henry picked up eight wickets during the Kiwis’ historic eight-wicket victory over India in Bengaluru. His compatriot Will O’Rourke gained two rungs and moved to the 39th position.

Pakistan’s seasoned spinner Noman Ali secured the 17th spot on the rankings for Test bowlers following his 11 wickets across two innings against England in the second Test. His teammate Sajid Khan gained 22 places to move to 50th after he was adjudged Player of the Match in the same match.

Apart from red-ball cricket, there was also some movement in the limited-overs cricket. Sri Lanka duo Pathum Nissanka jumped to eighth, and Kusal Mendis leapfrogged to 12th in the latest rankings for T20I batters. Sri Lanka’s ace spinner Maheesh Theekshana improved two rungs to jump to third on the updated list for T20I bowlers.

Experienced Wanindu Hasaranga also showed progress, as he gained one place to move to sixth on both the T20I rankings for bowlers and all-rounders rankings, following a spell of 2/24 in the final match of the three-game series against the West Indies in Dambulla.

Hasaranga gained two places to move to 18th on the list for ODI bowlers after he claimed two wickets in the opening game of the ODI series with the West Indies. Charith Asalanka jumped to the 12th spot in the rankings for ODI batters.