Leeds centurions Pant, Duckett gain in ICC Test rankings

India’s Rishabh Pant and England’s Ben Duckett have been rewarded for their big scores during the first Test in Headingley by reaching new career-high ratings in the latest ICC Men’s Test Batter Rankings.

India’s vice-captain Pant, who became just the second wicketkeeper-batter behind Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower to notch twin centuries when contributing 134 and 118 in the thrilling Leeds contest that England won by five wickets, gained a new career-best rating by improving one spot to move to seventh overall on the list for Test batters.

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On the other hand, Duckett, who scored 62 runs in the first innings and 149 in the thrilling chase of 371 on the final day to pick the Player of the Match award, has achieved a new career-best rating of 787, while jumping five places to be at eighth place in the updated Test batters rankings.

Though India ended on the losing side, other centurions have also made good gains with captain Shubman Gill jumping five places to be back in the top 20 list, KL Rahul moved up 10 places to 38th place while opener Yashasvi Jaiswal retained fourth position.

England’s top-order batter Ollie Pope, who scored a century in the first innings, has moved up three places to 19th position, while wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith is at a career-best 27th position, with his scores of 40 and 44 lifting him eight places. England veteran Joe Root remained the No.1 ranked Test batter, with teammate Harry Brook his closest challenger.

Meanwhile, among the bowlers, England quick Josh Tongue has jumped 16 places to 64th after grabbing seven wickets in the match and captain Ben Stokes has gained a slot to be 49th among bowlers and is up by three rungs to fifth among all-rounders after picking a total of five wickets and scoring 53 runs in two innings.

From the drawn Galle Test, former Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim has gained 11 places to reach 28th position after amassing scores of 163 and 49, while current skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto’s twin-centuries help him gain a whopping 21 places to reach a career-best 29th position and Shadman Islam has moved from 58th to 55th position.

Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka’s first innings knock of 187 has helped him advance 21 places to a career-best 31st position. In the bowlers’ rankings, spinner Nayeem Hasan is up to 48th from 54th place after picking six wickets in the match including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.

Pacer Hasan Mahmud has gone from 59th to 54th place while Sri Lanka’s Milan Rathnayake has advanced 17 places to 69th position.