Skipper jumps to 20th spot

KARACHI: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq has gained six slots to reach 20th position in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen after the first Test against the West Indies in Kingston which his team won by seven wickets on Tuesday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Misbah, who along with former captain Younis Khan, has announced that this will be his last Test series, notched unbeaten knocks of 99 and 12 to put himself in a position to further gain in the batsmen’s rankings, in which he attained a career-best sixth position in October 2013.

Younis, a former top-ranked batsman, has maintained his eighth position with innings of 58 and six.

Sarfraz Ahmed‘s first innings knock of 54 has seen him gain one place to move to 24th position.  Babar Azam has gained 14 places to reach 94th position after scores of 72 and nine not out.

West Indian captain Jason Holder’s innings of 57 not out and 14 helped him gain five slots to reach a career-best 60th position.  Shane Dowrich (up one place to 63rd position) and Roston Chase (up 21 positions to 70th position) also reached career-best rankings.

In the Rankings for Test Bowlers, leg-spinner Yasir Shah’s player of the match effort of two for 91 and six for 63 lifted him one slot to 15th position.

Left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir gained 13 slots to reach 42nd ranking after taking six for 44 and one for 20.

For the West Indies, pace bowlers Shannon Gabriel (up seven places to 33rd ranking) and Alzarri Joseph (up 22 places to 73rd ranking) reached career-best positions after taking four wickets each in the match.