Pant shines, reaches career-best ICC Test rating

Dubai

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has reached his best-ever rating in the latest ICC Men’s Test Batter Rankings after scoring two superb centuries against England. Pant, 27, smashed 134 and 118 runs in the first Test of the series in England, though India lost the match by five wickets. His performance pushed him up one place to sixth in the rankings, with a career-best 801 points. This puts him only 88 points behind the current No.1, Joe Root.

Pant is now close to his career-best ranking of fifth, which he reached in 2022. Joe Root stayed at the top after scoring 28 and an unbeaten 53 in England’s win. Harry Brook remains second, while Ben Duckett moved to eighth after his quick 149-run knock helped England chase down the target in Leeds.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Travis Head jumped to 10th place after scoring two half-centuries in their 159-run win over West Indies in Barbados.

In Sri Lanka, Pathum Nissanka moved up 14 places to 17th after his 159-run innings helped his team beat Bangladesh by an innings and 78 runs to win the series 1-0.

South African newcomer Lhuan-dre Pretorius entered at 68th after hitting 153 runs in their big win over Zimbabwe.

On the bowling side, Jasprit Bumrah remains the top Test bowler after another strong show in Headingley. Josh Hazlewood climbed to fourth, Jayden Seales rose to ninth, while Sri Lanka’s Prabhath Jayasuriya and Bangladesh’s Taijul Islam also moved up after good performances in Colombo.