Jasprit Bumrah regained the No. 1 position for the second time after this week with six wickets against Bangladesh in Kanpur. At the same time, his Indian teammate Ravichandran Ashwin surrendered it as he was declared Player of the Series against Bangladesh.
Apart from the beginning of Bumrah, much excitement also builds up for the batting combination of India with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was declared Player of the Match for the Kanpur Test, leaping to the third position in Test batting rankings after just 11 matches.
More fundamentally, no spinners have risen through the ranks since Kumble’s pinnacle. From Sri Lanka, left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, who was the Player of the Series in his team’s 2-0 victory over New Zealand in Galle, has also made significant progress, climbing to joint-seventh among bowlers after just 16 Tests.
Other notable changes in the Test ranking are that Virat Kohli has made a comeback into the top 10 batters, having moved six places to reach the sixth spot with 47 and an unbeaten 29 in Kanpur. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis has risen to No 11 after an impressive unbeaten 182 in Galle. All-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz of Bangladesh is now fifth with his teammate Shakib Al Hasan retaining his No 3 all-rounders ranking.
A first in history, perhaps, is Bumrah’s ascent to the pinnacle-from becoming India’s first fast bowler to reach the No. 1 ranking. The highest ever so far for an Indian pace bowler was Kapil Dev, who featured at No. 2 in ICC’s retrospective rankings in 1979-80. Ashwin is currently just a point behind Bumrah at 869 rating points and the battle for the top is going to be more thrilling than ever.
