Kohli, Pant and Bumrah move up in latest ICC Test rankings; Petersen gains big

By PTI

DUBAI: Indian star Virat Kohli on Wednesday moved up two places to seventh after scores of 79 and 29 in his last Test as captain in the latest ICC rankings for batters in the five-day format.

Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten century in the second innings of the series-deciding third Test against South Africa lifted him 10 places to 14th, while fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s six wickets in Cape Town took him back to the top 10 in the bowling chart.

Kohli decided to quit Test captaincy a day after India lost the three-match series against South Africa 1-2, ending his seven-year reign at the helm.

In the latest weekly update that takes into account the third match of the South Africa-India series in Cape Town which the hosts won by seven wickets to clinch the World Test Championship (WTC) series, Keegan Petersen has shot up 68 places to 33rd after match-winning scores of 72 and 82.

He scored the maximum runs to claim the Player of the Series award, his 276-run aggregate helping him surge up after starting the series in 158th position.

Temba Bavuma (up seven places to 28th) and Rassie van der Dussen (up 12 places to 43rd) are the other South Africa batters to advance while fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada (up two places to third) and Lungi Ngidi (up six places to 21st) have also made notable progress.

Australia’s Travis Head has reached a career-best fifth position among batters after his Player of the Match performance in the fifth match of their Ashes series against England.

Head, who scored 101 in the first innings in Hobart to finish with a series topping 357 runs that also got him clinch the Player of the Series award, has advanced seven spots to joint-fifth with India’s Rohit Sharma.

Head’s previous best ranking was the 10th position that he occupied last month.

All-rounder Cameron Green is another Australia player to gain after the 146-run victory that helped Australia win the series 4-0 and climb to second in the WTC points table.

Green was up 23 places to joint 66th after his scores of 74 and 23 and has also moved up 13 places to 62nd in the bowlers’ list.

Scott Boland has moved from 49th to 43rd with four wickets in the match.

England opener Jack Crawley has progressed nine places to 68th after scores of 18 and 36.

Among their bowlers, Stuart Broad has moved up two places to 12th position after finishing with six wickets in the match while Ollie Robinson (up one place to 24th) and Mark Wood (up seven places to 31st) have also advanced.

In the ODI player rankings that consider performances from the last two matches of the West Indies-Ireland series and the first two of the Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe series, Ireland off-spinner Andy McBrine has gained 17 slots to move into the top 10 with two four-wicket hauls.

West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein has moved up two places to joint-59th.

In other major movements, Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams has advanced eight places to 40th after scores of 100 and 40 and Sri Lanka batter Kariyawasa Asalanka’s knocks of 71 and 23 have helped him move up 16 places to 52nd.