International Cricket Council (ICC) released the updated Test rankings released on December 15 in which Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne, his teammate Travis Head and Pakistan quick Shaheen Afridi rose to their career-best rankings.
Travis Head's swashbuckling 152 in the first 2021-2022 Ashes Tests helped him plunge to 10th rank while Labuschagne, who scored a sedate 74 in the same match, stormed to the second spot in the Test batter ranking. David Warner also improved on the rankings as he jumped three places up and seized sixth position superseding Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli (seventh) who lost one spot. Kohli will have a chance to go up in the rankings as India play South Africa in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion.
Meanwhile, Afridi sauntered two places up to become the no.3-ranked Test pace bowler, just behind Pat Cummins, who is at the top followed by India’s Ravichandran Ashwin. Shaheen picked three wickets in the second Test against Bangladesh which Pakistan won by an innings to pocket the series 2-0.
Among the Test all-rounders, England's Ben Stokes dropped two places. Stokes, who misfired in the first Ashes Test after making a comeback from injury and mental health issues, slipped to fifth. He has 322 rating points. Stokes' fall saw Ravindra Jadeja (3rd spot) and Shakib Al Hasan (4th spot) gain one berth each. Ravichandran Ashwin with 360 points sits second on the chart which is topped by West Indian Jason Holder with 382 points.
T20I Rankings
In the T20I Player Rankings, Dawid Malan (805 points) dethroned Pakistan captain Babar Azam (789 points) from no.1 spot among batters.
Also, Pakistan's Haider Ali has gained 86 slots to reach 98th position after scores of 68 and 31 while the bowlers’ rankings saw leg-spinner Shadab Khan back in the top 10, moving up by five slots to ninth position.
Fast bowler Haris Rauf gained three places to move to 19th while Mohammad Nawaz has gained 29 slots to reach 54th position.
For the West Indies, left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein has gained 73 slots and is now 68th among bowlers.
ODI Rankings
In the ODI rankings, Babar Azam sits atop the batters chart with 873 points followed by India’s Virat Kohli (844 points). While Trent Boult stood tall among the bowlers, Bangladesh star player Shakib Al Hasan with 416 points towered in the all-rounder list.
