Jasprit Bumrah achieves a historic milestone; Virat Kohli has sunk to a new low in the latest ICC Test rankings
The Test cricket action for the season is drawing to a close Australia sealing a 3-1 win over India for the win Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 and South Africa‘s series white-wash against Pakistan. As the current WTC cycle draws to a close, International Cricket Council (ICC) has updated its rankings with significant changes in individual player rankings.
Jasprit Bumrah crowned best Test bowler
Jasprit Bumrah had a star tour in Australia. The 31-year-old led the Indian team in the first Test match in Perth and the last Test in Sydney. The Indian pace sensation was the leading wicket-taker in the series as he claimed 32 wickets in the 5-match Test series. Bumrah was also named player of the series for his exemplary bowling during BGT 2024-25.
With a career-best score of 908 in Sydney against Australia, Bumrah cemented his place as Number 1 Test shot putter in the world in the updated ICC rankings. Australian skipper Pat Cummins moved up one rank with a rating of 841. South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada won the third spot after a remarkable 2-match Test series against Pakistan.
Other famous bowlers who have risen in the Test rankings are Scott Boland who moved up 29 spots with a career-best score of 745 to rank 9th with Ravindra Jadeja. South African spinner Keshav Maharaj also moved up the rankings to claim 17th overtaking the New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson.
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Kohli slides further up the Test rankings
Indian batsmen had a terrible 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Except Yashasvi Jaiswalno Indian batsman has performed consistently for the team. The average performance of Indian batsmen is reflected in their updated ICC rankings. The most significant drop in the ranking is that of Virat Kohli. The middle-order batsman was ranked 25th in the ICC Test rankings before the series. However, a poor performance with the bat in Australia has seen his ranking slip further to 27th with a paltry score of 614. The sharp decline in Kohli’s batting ability can be seen from the fact that the 36-year-old posted a career-best score of 937 in 2018 .
The plight of other batsmen is also worrying in the Test rankings. Excellent dough Shubman Gill dropped to 23rd place with a score of 631. Rohit Sharma he further dropped to 42nd place with a score of 554 below him. KL Rahul he also saw a drop in his Test ranking. With a score of 533, Rahul has now slipped to 52nd in the updated rankings.
Rishabh Pant and Jaiswal are the only two batsmen who have shown improvement as far as their rankings are concerned. With a score of 739, Pant climbed to the 9th position. Jaiswal managed to hold on to No. 4 with a score of 847. Other notable changes in the batsmen’s rankings included Temba Bavuma which now holds the 6th place in the ranking. Pakistan’s ace batting Babar Azam gained 5 places and kept the 12th pace in the test standings.
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