Sri Lankan players rise in the ICC Test Batting Rankings

Cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) recently revealed the updated ICC Men’s Test player rankings on the 11th of September, 2024. 

The updated rankings see England’s hard hitting batter Harry Brook slip down by seven positions, while India’s three batters have risen in the rankings by one-spot each. 

Joe Root, the premier batter of the Three Lions, continues to reign supreme at the top of ICC’s Test batting rankings despite scoring just 13 and 12 runs in the third test match at the Oval against Sri Lanka, though his rating points have seen a decrease from 922 to 899, which provides an opportunity to New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and Aussie batter Steve Smith to close down the gap between themselves and Root.

Similarly, another English batter, Harry Brook, has dropped in the batting rankings by seven spots to the 12th position after managing to score just 19 and three-runs in the third test against the Sri Lankans.

Ollie Pope’s inning of 154 runs has helped him make a jump of seven places to joint 27th spot along with Angelo Mathews while young sensation Jamie Smith moved by six places to the 30th rank after scoring a quick fifty in the second inning.

However, England batters were not the only ones who made gains in the rankings. Six batters of Sri-Lanka have made massive gains in ICC’s recently updated Test batting rankings thanks to their historic eight-wicket victory over England in the third & final Test-Match at the Oval.

The Island Nation secured their first away test victory in more-than-a-decade in the third-test match against the Three Lions, with captain Dhananjaya-de-Silva, opener Pathum Nissanka and middle order batter Kamindu Mendis starring with the bat.

Skipper De Silva was the top scorer for his side having played a crucial knock of 69 runs in the first inning, which allowed him to achieve his Test career’s best ranking batting wise, as he jumped from 16th to the 13th rank.

Pathum Nissanka and Kamindu Mendis on the other hand, also achieved their Test career’s highest ranks, with the left handed batter rising by six spots to the 19th place thanks to his fifty against England while Nissanka’s fantastic knocks of 64 and 127* runs helped him to make a huge jump of 42 places to the 39th place.

Talking about the Indian players, despite not playing a test match since March of this year, the trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal have seen improvisations in their test rankings.

The Indian captain has moved to the fifth position, while his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal is now sitting at the sixth place of ICC’s Test batting-rankings. Kohli, on the other hand, has occupied the seventh position.

Source: ICC Cricket Schedule
--Agencies