Root, Herath climb to second positions in Test rankings

DUBAI: England batsman Joe Root and Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath have moved up to take the second positions among batsmen and bowlers, respectively, in the Test Player Rankings.

Root’s knocks of 124 and four in the drawn opening match of a five-Test series against India in Rajkot took him ahead of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.

Root, who was top-ranked in August 2015 during a home series against Australia and two months later during a series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, is three points ahead of Williamson with 844 points and 42 points adrift of Australia captain Steve Smith.

England captain Alastair Cook, who scored 21 and 130, moved up one slot to 10th rank.

Moeen Ali moved up six slots to reach 26th rank. Ben Stokes gained eight places to reach 32nd position.

Teenage debutant opener Haseeb Hameed made an impressive entry at 64th position after scoring 31 and 82.

India’s Cheteshwar Pujara gained two places to reach 11th rank.  Captain Virat Kohli moved up one place to 14th position. Opener Murali Vijay moved up two places to 23rd rank.

In the Rankings for Test Bowlers, stand-in captain Herath’s match haul of 13-152 in Harare, which helped Sri Lanka complete a 2-0 series win, lifted him ahead of pace bowlers Dale Steyn of South Africa and James Anderson of England.

Herath reached number-two rank in November 2012 and August 2014, but now enjoys a career-best rating of 867 points and is only 14 points behind India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

England leg-spinner Adil Rashid gained 17 places to reach 61st position after taking seven wickets in Rajkot.

Stokes reached a career-best third-ranking among all-rounders but is 56 points behind second-placed Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh and 106 behind Ashwin.