South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has leapfrogged India’s ace paceman Jasprit Bumrah to become the top-ranked bowler in Test cricket. The 29-year-old, who recently became the fastest to 300 Test wickets, claimed nine wickets in the opening Test against Bangladesh.

Rabada had first topped the rankings after the Newlands Test against India in January 2018 and held the top spot for much of the next 12 months. 

Meanwhile, Bumrah has taken only three wickets in the first two Tests against New Zealand. In Pune, the right-arm pacer went wicketless. R Ashwin too has managed six wickets in his last two Tests at a mediocre average of 43.5.

As a result, Bumrah and Ashwin have now dropped to Nos.3 and 4 respectively, giving the second spot to Australia’s Josh Hazlewood.

Left-arm spinners Noman Ali of Pakistan and Mitchell Santner of New Zealand have made huge progress. Noman is in the top 10 for the first time, moving up eight slots to ninth position after finishing with nine wickets in Rawalpindi. 

Santner, whose haul of 13 for 157 in the 113-run victory in Pune is the third-best by a Kiwi bowler after Richard Hadlee’s 15 for 123 and Ajaz Patel’s 14 for 224, has progressed 30 slots to 44th position, five places off his career-best 39th position attained in January 2017.

In the batting department, Yashaswi Jaiswal is back at number three after scores of 30 and 77 while other left-handers Saud Shakeel of Pakistan and Rachin Ravindra of New Zealand have moved into the top 10 for the first time in their careers.

Shakeel has advanced 20 slots to reach seventh position after his knock of 134 won him the Player of the Match award while Ravindra is up eight places to 10th with a useful half-century in the first innings.

(With inputs from ICC Media Release)

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