Jasprit Bumrah’s heroics against England in Vizag propelled him to the top of the world Test bowling rankings.
Jasprit Bumrah, India’s premier pacer, reached new heights by becoming the first pace bowler in the country’s history to be ranked one in men’s Test bowling. It is the first time Bumrah has topped the men’s Test bowling rankings, with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Bishen Singh Bedi previously holding the top ranks. Bumrah rose to prominence after scoring 9/91 (across two innings) in the Vizag Test, which helped India win the series by 106 runs over England.
Despite having 10 five-wicket hauls for his country in 34 Test matches, the 30-year-old had never been ranked higher than third.This year, the experienced pacer had two five-wicket hauls: 6/61 against South Africa in Cape Town and 6/45 against England.
Additionally, Bumrah has previously been recognized as the world’s best bowler in both ODIs and T20Is.
With 881 rating points currently held by Bumrah, the only other Indian bowlers with a higher total are Ashwin (904) and Jadeja (899). Additionally, Ashwin and Jadeja share the rare distinction of ranking first together in March 2017.
In the batting rankings, Shubman Gill rises 14 spots to a career-best 38th place after scoring a century in the second innings, while left-handed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal moves up 37 spots to 29th place after finishing a superb double-century in the first innings.
Another player to benefit from the Visakhapatnam Test is England’s opener Zak Crawley, who moved up eight spots to a career-best 22nd position following scores of 76 and 73.
Tom Hartley has improved in both lists, going from 103rd to 95th in the batting rankings and from 63rd to 53rd in the bowling rankings. Hartley became the second England player with at least 50 runs and five wickets in each of his first two Tests. Rehan Ahmed, a rookie leg-spinner, has climbed 14 spots to 70th.
Performances in the one-off Test match in Colombo between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka were also taken into consideration for the most recent rankings. Following his eight-wicket match haul that contributed to the home team’s victory by ten wickets, left-arm spinner Prabhath Jayasuriya has climbed three spots to a career-high sixth position.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa of Australia has moved up to third place in the ODI rankings, while fast bowler Sean Abbott has risen 35 places to joint-33rd place after taking six wickets in the three-match series against the West Indies this past week.
