Australia have benefited from the latest ICC Test rankings and their batsmen and bowlers moved up the charts following their 10-wicket win in the first Test against the West Indies in Adelaide.
Travis Head has moved up to fifth position in the rankings from 12th, while Usman Khawaja, who won the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year in 2023, is ninth in the rankings.
Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are in the top five, with Kohli in seventh place and the only Indian batsman in the top 10. Rohit Sharma is ranked 11th while Rishabh Pant, who has been out of international cricket for over a year is now ranked 13th.
Head was Player of the Match during Australia’s victory over India in the World Test Championship final last year and also scored a century against the same opposition in the ICC World Cup 2023 final. Head was part of the ICC Test teams and ODIs by 2023.
Among the bowlers, Ravichandran Ashwin leads the rankings followed by Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Josh Hazlewood and Jasprit Bumrah. Hazlewood has moved up three places to occupy the number four spot. Nathan Lyon, the Australian veteran, has moved up one place and is inside the top 10.
England pacers Ollie Robinson and James Anderson are ranked seventh and eighth respectively, while Ravindra Jadeja is ranked fifth in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers. Mitchell Starc and Shaheen Afridi are ranked 11th and 12th respectively, just outside the top 10.
Also Read: Usman Khawaja beats Ravichandran Ashwin to win ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2023
Australia wins in latest ICC rankings
In the men’s T20I rankings, India is the number one ranked team and Suryakumar Yadav is the number one batsman. He won the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer Award for 2023. England, New Zealand, Pakistan and Australia are ranked second, third fourth and fifth in the team rankings.
SKY is ranked first in the rankings, followed by Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. Yashasvi Jaiswal is ranked sixth, while a splendid performance by Rinku Singh against Afghanistan has taken him to 31st place in the rankings. Also, Rohit Sharma jumped to 49th place.
Adil Rashid leads the T20I bowlers rankings along with Sri Lankan twins Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga ranked third and fourth respectively. West Indies spinner Akeal Hoseinuis came second. Indian spinners Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi are ranked fifth and sixth respectively. Haris Rauf is the only Pakistani bowler in the top 20.
Talking about Australia, they are currently playing the second Test against the West Indies in Brisbane. They won the first Test in Adelaide by 10 wickets to cement their position at the top of the points table. The Windies scored 266/8 thanks to the scores of Kavem Hodge (71) and Joshua Da Silva (79). Windies pacer Alzari Joseph scored 32 off 22 balls in a special cameo. He will have a bigger role to play with the ball later in the Test match.
“[Best moment] Probably the Edgbaston match. My first hundred in England and then winning that match like that was something special. Both as a team and individually as well. [On improving his game against spin] I had to work very hard. Perception becomes reality. Many people tell you something and you start to believe it. Those innings I played in Dubai a few years ago were probably the catalyst. “That was probably what gave me the conditions to move forward in subcontinental conditions.” said Usman Khawaja after winning the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2023 award.
Also Read: AUS vs WI scorecard, 2nd Test, Day 1 highlights: Joshua Da Silva and Kavem Hodge save West Indies as visitors finish at 266/8