Joe Root rises to No.2 position in the ICC Test rankings

08/18/2021

England skipper Joe Root, who has been going through a purple patch with the bat, has risen to the No.2 spot in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen. Indian opener KL Rahul, pacer Mohammed Siraj and English pacers James Anderson and Mark Wood also made gains after the second Test at Lord's.

England have struggled in the ongoing series against India but that hasn't been the case with their skipper Joe Root, who has taken the series by storm with his batting. With two hundreds in the first two games and 386 runs against his name at 128.67, Root has been the leading run-getter in the series. He had made a magnificent 180 in the first innings of the Lord's Test. And now, he has risen to the No.2 spot in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen, getting closer to the No.1 ranked Kane Williamson. He was ranked fifth at the start of the series.

KL Rahul, who made an exceptional ton in the first innings of the second Test to extend his good form, also made a giant leap of 19 spots to reach the 37th position in the Test rankings. Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who didn't have a great outing, continues to hold the fort at the fifth position. Besides Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant are the other Indian batters in the top 10, stationed at the sixth and seventh spot respectively.

In terms of bowlers, veteran English pacer James Anderson, who had claimed a five-for in the second Test, climbed a place to gain the No.6 spot. The duo of Mark Wood and Mohammed Siraj also jumped 5 and 18 spots respectively to reach the 37th and 38th positions in the list.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam also jumped two places to reach the No.6 spot after he made 30 and 55 in the recently-concluded thriller between West Indies and Pakistan. West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder, who took four wickets and scored 58 and 16 with the willow, gained places in both the batting and bowling rankings. The right-arm pacer entered the top ten of the bowling rankings and is now positioned at the ninth spot. He also gained 5 spots to reach the 43rd spot in the batting charts.

Jayden Seales, with eight wickets in the Test against Pakistan, also jumped 39 places to the 58th spot.