Dubai: India’s swashbuckling wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant reached a career-high seventh in the latest ICC Test rankings for batters on Wednesday, following his twin centuries in the series-opener against England in Leeds.
India’s new Test captain Shubman Gill jumped five rungs to 20th overall following his century in the first innings of the match that his team lost by five wickets despite setting England a stiff target of 371.
Pant, who became only the second wicketkeeper to hit two hundreds in the same match during the first Test of the five-match series, climbed one spot in the list.
Before the 27-year-old Pant joined him, Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower remained the sole stumper with two centuries in the same Test match.
Pant struck 134 and 118 in the thrilling Leeds Test that England won by five wickets.
There was little change in the rankings for Test bowlers, with India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah maintaining his place at the top of charts following yet another five-wicket haul in the Headingley Test.
Meanwhile, Ben Duckett, who was adjudged Player of the Match for his scores of 62 and 149 in England’s victory, jumped five places to eighth in the rankings.
Duckett’s teammates Ollie Pope (up three spots to 19th) and Jamie Smith (up eighth places to 27th) also made significant gains.
England veteran Joe Root remained the No.1 ranked Test batter, with teammate Harry Brook his closest challenger.
England skipper Ben Stokes gained three places to move up to fifth in the list for Test all-rounders following solid contributions with both bat and ball across the same game.
The drawn first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh saw a host of their players make some inroads in the latest batters’ rankings. Mushfiqur Rahim led the way, following his innings of 163 in Galle.
Rahim gained 11 spots to move to 28th for Test batters, while teammate Najmul Hossain Shanto jumps a whopping 21 places to improve to 29th on the same list after he scored a pair of tons in the same match.
