ICC Test rankings: Joe Root becomes no.1 Test batter, dethrones this Fab 4 member; Babar Azam, Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith rise too

England's Joe Root reclaimed the top position in the ICC Test batter rankings on July 31, surpassing former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. Root had a good run in the recently-concluded Test series against West Indies where he scored 291 runs including a century, helping England complete cleansweep. 
 

Root scored 87 runs in the third and final Test of the series helping him gain 12 points to move to 872 rating points, surpassing Williamson’s 859. This is the ninth time Root has reached the summit. He reached the top for the first time in August 2015. 
 

While Root went past Williamson to take the top spot, Pakistan’s Babar Azam, New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell, Australia’s Steve Smith, and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma gained a spot each. The four batter moved up as England’s middle-order batter Harry Brook slipped to seventh position after attaining a career-best third position last week, owing to a single-digit score in third Test.
 

England Test captain Ben Stokes, who struck 54 in the first innings and a record-breaking unbeaten 57 off 28 balls in the second at Edgbaston, Birmingham, has moved up four positions to 30th in the batting rankings. England’s young wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith’s knock of 95 also lifted him 31 places to 64th position. West Indies batter Kavem Hodge moved up three places to 72nd.

ALSO READ: 'We can't give excuses': Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka lashes out at middle-order batters for making a mess of run chase
 

The Ireland versus Zimbabwe Test in Belfast has also impacted the rankings. Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams has re-entered the rankings in 33rd position after scores of 35 and 40. England opener Zak Crawley slipped three places to 20th whereas Ollie Pope dropped one place to 22nd. Crawley's slip led to Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan (17), South Africa's Temba Bavuma (18) and India's Shubman Gill (19) climb one place each. Jonny Bairstow who has been dropped from the Test squad slipped two places to 27th. 

ALSO READ: Gautam Gambhir couldn't stop smiling as Rinku Singh takes his maiden T20I wicket to turn game upside down; watch video
 

Root on record-breaking spree

During the Test series, Root created history by becoming the first cricketer in the world to score 1,000 runs in three World Test Championship (WTC) cycles. He has scored 1,023 runs from 13 Tests in the WTC 2023–25 cycle.
 

The 33-year-old also went past legendary batters Mahela Jayawardene, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Brian Lara on the list of the highest run-scorers in Test cricket. He is now the second English batter, after Alastair Cook, to achieve 12,000 Test runs. 
 

MORE ON SPORTS TAK:

Newly appointed assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate gives 'fielder of the series' medal to this KKR player after series win; watch video

'I knew 19th over has always been difficult for Indian cricket': Suryakumar Yadav reveals why he trusted Rinku Singh when Sri Lanka needed 9 runs from