ICC RANKINGS: Yasir back in top 10

DUBAI: Haris Sohail and Babar Azam, centurions in Pakistan’s win over New Zealand on Tuesday, rise sharply in the latest ICC Test player rankings for batsmen.

Three Tests got over in the past few days. The most incredible result, by far, was England completing a 3-0 series sweep in Sri Lanka, while Bangladesh started their home series against the West Indies with a 64-run win and Pakistan bounced back to level their three-Test series against New Zealand courtesy an innings victory.

In the last of those, Yasir Shah was at his absolute best, with returns of 8-41 and 6-143. There has never been a better match haul by a Pakistan bowler in Tests than Yasir’s 14-184 bar Imran Khan’s 14-116 against Sri Lanka in Lahore in 1982, and it helped him re-enter the top 10 — at No 10 — after a jump of nine spots.

Above him, James Anderson, who sat out the final Test after picking up just one wicket in the first two games, slipped from the perch to No 2, and Kagiso Rabada reclaimed the top spot, while Trent Boult went down two spots to No 8, allowing Pat Cummins and Ravichandran Ashwin to move up to six and seven respectively.

Of the other big performers in the three Tests, Bangladesh’s Taijul Islam added to his 18 wickets in the two Tests against Zimbabwe with a seven-wicket haul, and rose six spots to No 21.

Ben Stokes also gained three places to get to 28th, and some distance below them, Lakshan Sandakan made the most of the opportunity in Akila Dananjaya’s absence, picking up seven wickets and moving up 11 places to get to the 45th spot.

There were no changes in the top nine among the batsmen, but Dinesh Chandimal fell out of the top 10 to No 11, and Usman Khawaja moved back to No 10 following the Sri Lankan’s no-show in the last two Tests against England because of an injury.

Gaining from Pakistan’s bounce-back in Dubai were their three best-performing batsmen. Azhar Ali scored 81 in Pakistan’s only innings, and gained three places to get to No 12, while Haris Sohail, who hit 147, moved up to No 38 (up 33 spots) and Babar Azam, who scored 127 not out, got to No 39 (up 24 places).

Ross Taylor and Mushfiqur Rahim slipped a bit within the top 25, but Jonny Bairstow, Henry Nicholls, Jos Buttler and Kusal Mendis all moved up, while Mominul Haque’s 120 — centuries in consecutive Tests — took him up 11 places to just inside the top 25 at No 24.

There was a new No 5 among all-rounders too. Stokes, who put in good performances with ball and bat in Sri Lanka, swapped positions with Ashwin to slot in just behind Shakib Al Hasan, Ravindra Jadeja, Jason Holder and Vernon Philander.

— icc-cricket.com

ICC men’s Test player rankings: Batsmen (top 10): 1. Virat Kohli (Ind), 935 points; 2. Steve Smith (Aus), 910; 3. Kane Williamson (NZ), 876; 4. Joe Root (Eng), 807; 5. David Warner (Aus), 803; 6 C. Pujara (Ind), 765; 7. D. Karunaratne (SL), 753; 8. Dean Elgar (SA), 724; 9. Aiden Markram (SA), 703; 10. Usman Khawaja (Aus), 699.

Bowlers (top 10): 1. Kagiso Rabada (SA), 882 points; 2. James Anderson (Eng), 874; 3. M Abbas (Pak), 829; 4. Vernon Philander (SA), 826; 5. Ravindra Jadeja (Ind), 812; 6. Pat Cummins (Aus), 784; 7. R Ashwin (Ind), 777; 8. Trent Boult (NZ), 772; 9. Jason Holder (Win), 758; 10. Yasir Shah (Pak), 752.

All-rounders (top five): 1. Shakib Al Hasan (Ban), 405 points; 2. Ravindra Jadeja (Ind), 400; 3. Jason Holder (Win), 372; 4. Vernon Philander (SA), 370; 5. Ben Stokes (Eng), 342.