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England's batting juggernaut Joe Root has finally dislodged Australia's Marnus Labuschagne from top to become new World no.1 in International Cricket Council's (ICC) latest released batting rankings.
Labuschagne long stay at the top has finally ended by Joe Root. Notably, Labuschagne held the no.1 spot back in December but has now slipped to third and is behind New Zealand's Kane Williamson, who jumped two places up to second. Meanwhile, Root sailed his way to the top after cracking an unbeaten century (118 not out) in the just-concluded Ashes Test series opener against Australia. Root made up for England's two-wicket loss and took a leap of five places to top with a rating point of 887 points. Root's upsurge also saw Australia's batting maestro Steve Smith tumbling down to sixth from no.2 in the standings.
Smith, who recently rose to no.1 in the rankings after notching brilliant ton in WTC final against India, couldn't make an impact with the bat in the Ashes 2023 opener and could only muster the scores of 16 and 6 to drop down the standings. Meanwhile, his teammate Travis Head also dropped down one place to fourth with just 26 rating points now separating the top six players in what is one of the closest battles seen in recent times.
The hero of the Edgbaston Test Usman Khawaja who remained the top scorer for Australia in both the innings rose to new career best ranking. Khawaja, who was adjudged the Player of the Match for his exceptional century, shot to seventh place with a rating point of 836. Also England's Harry Brook earned the highest mark of his short Test career by jumping five places to 13th on the latest Test rankings.
As far as Indians' rankings are concerned, Rishabh Pant is the only batter to find a place in top-10 in Test batting rankings. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma continue to stay out of top-10 and are stationed at no.14 and no.12 respectively.
Ashwin continues dominance
There isn't much change in the newly released Test bowlers' rankings as India's ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin continues to rule the standings. Ashwin is maintaining his lead over England veteran James Anderson, South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada and Australia captain Pat Cummins at the head of the list.
England duo Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad both rise one place inside the top 10, while teammate Moeen Ali returns to the rankings in 52nd spot after he answered an SOS from skipper Ben Stokes to play his first Test in almost two years against Australia.
The ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier saw some minor changes to the latest ODI rankings, with Oman captain Zeeshan Maqsood perhaps the biggest beneficiary as the 35-year-old improved two places to third overall on the updated list for all-rounders.
Maqsood contributed a valuable 59 and picked up a wicket as Oman upset Ireland in their opening match of the Qualifier, while the left-arm spinner also jumped five places to 40th on the list for ODI bowlers.
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