Riding on their exceptional performances in the first Test against Bangladesh, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav dazzled in the latest ICC Test rankings where the former catapulted to career-best 18th while latter jumped 19 places to 49th.
Axar, who stormed into top-20 by taking a 20-places leap, snared five wickets in the first Test versus Bangladesh as he has 650 points in the standings. Meanwhile, Kuldeep shone with eight-wicket haul in the match and was rewarded for his bowling heroics by becoming the Player of the Match, has 455 rating points.
Also, India's pacer spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin continued their stay in top five by bagging fourth and fifth spot respectively in the bowling standings.
As far as batting rankings are concerned, India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara and star opener Shubman Gill took 10-places leap to secure 16th and 54th spot respectively. Pujara's classy 90 and 102 in the Bangladesh's Test opener propelled India to an emphatic win as he catapulted to top-20 with 664 points. While, Gill's stunning ton helped him garner 517 rating points to sit 54th in the standings. The other Indian batter who is benefitted in the standings is Shreyas Iyer, who also starred with a first innings' 86 which spurred him to 26th spot while wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant continues to remain the top-ranked Indian batter at no.6.
India's regular captain Rohit Sharma, who was ruled out of the first Test against Bangladesh due to injury, is placed at no.9 while the batting juggernaut Virat Kohli moved to 12th.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has attained a career-best second position after notching two half-centuries in the final Test series against England in Karachi.
Babar’s knocks of 78 and 54 have helped him overtake Steve Smith, who managed 36 and six in a low-scoring game between Australia and South Africa in Brisbane.
Babar, who is ranked first in ODIs and fourth in T20Is, trails Marnus Labuschagne by 61 points in the Test rankings.
Australia batter Travis Head, whose first innings score of 92 was the highest in the Brisbane Test, has gained three slots to reach a career-best fourth position as he crosses the 800-rating point mark for the first time in his career.
His previous best was fifth position in January this year.
England captain Ben Stokes (up places to 23rd), South Africa’s Temba Bavuma (up eight places to 24th) and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (up four places to 37th) are some others to move up the batters’ list.
England’s Harry Brook is in the top 50 for the first time after scoring centuries in all three Tests in Pakistan.
In the bowlers’ rankings, South Africa quick Kagiso Rabada has gained four spots to reach third position after grabbing four wickets in each innings at Gabba.
Rabada, a formerly top-ranked bowler, was third in August this year before slipping down the table. Australia's six wicket win saw them consolidate their position at the top of the WTC table with India in second place.
