India’s Jasprit Bumrah with Australia’s captain Pat Cummins following the fifth cricket test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney, Australia, on January 5, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah continued to reign supreme at the top of the bowlers’ chart with a career-best rating of 908 in the latest ICC Test Rankings, released on Wednesday (January 8, 2025).

Bumrah, who made history ahead of the fifth and final Test against Australia by recording the highest-ever ICC Rankings rating for an Indian bowler at 907 points, improved that tally by one point after taking two wickets in the first innings at the SCG.

However, a back spasm ruled him out of bowling in the second innings, restricting his role to just batting.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who climbed a spot to be joint-ninth, is the other Indian giving Bumrah company in the top-10.

He shares the ninth spot with Australian pacer Scott Boland, who has made a remarkable leap of 29 places to break into the top 10.

Boland’s stellar performance in the Sydney Test, where he claimed a 10-wicket haul (4/31 and 6/45), proved too much for the Indian batters on a lively pitch.

His efforts were instrumental in Australia’s triumph, ending a decade-long wait to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins also made gains in the rankings, climbing to number two after picking up five wickets in the final match. South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada rose a spot to occupy the third place while injured Josh Hazlewood moved down two places to be fourth.

Rishabh Pant’s blistering 33-ball 61 in the second innings earned him a three-spot rise in the batting rankings, moving him to number nine while India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal retained his fourth spot.

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma extended his rich vein of form, scoring a vital century in the first innings to climb three spots to number six, also achieving a career-best rating of 769.

Meanwhile, Kyle Verreynne’s impressive century saw him rise four places to secure the 25th spot.

Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Mirza, right, and teammates celebrate after dismissal of Pakistan’s Saim Ayub, left, during the second day of second test cricket match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan’s first-ever series loss to Bangladesh has resulted in Shan Masood’s team slipping down to the eighth position in the ICC Test rankings besides hitting a historic low of lowest rating points since 1965.

Pakistan were thrashed by 10 wickets in the first Test while the hosts lost the second by six wickets with Rawalpindi hosting both the matches.

“Pakistan dropped two places in the ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings to go to eighth position after suffering a shock series loss at home to Bangladesh,” the ICC said on its website.

“The hosts were sixth in the rankings table before the series, but back-to-back losses have seen them drop below West Indies to eighth with 76 rating points.

“This is the lowest rating points Pakistan have had in the Test rankings table since 1965, barring a brief period where they did not have a place in the rankings due to an insufficient number of matches.”

Bangladesh’s chase in the second Test of 185 was also the third highest successful chase in Pakistan for any visiting side, but there was a little in terms of promotion for the ‘Tigers’.

Bangladesh remained in ninth position and behind Pakistan despite gaining 13 rating points.

However, the 2-0 series win has bolstered Bangladesh in the points table for the World Test Championship cycle 2023-25 as they are now placed fourth behind table-toppers India, Australia at second and New Zealand at third.

Bangladesh, who will now focus their attention on a two-Test series against India starting in Chennai on September 19, have 45.83 percentage points and 33 points with three wins and as many defeats in six Tests.

In WTC, teams get 12 points for a Test win, four for a draw and six for a tie while being ranked according to percentage of points won.

According to the ICC annual rankings, India retained their top position in ODIs and T20Is but slipped to second place in the men’s Test team rankings.

India have retained their top position in ODIs and T20Is but slipped to the second position in the men’s Test Team Rankings in the latest ICC annual ranking update issued on May 3.

India conceded the top spot in the five-day format to Australia, the reigning World Test champion, following the annual update that drops results from the 2020-21 season and reflects all series completed since May 2021.

India (120) are just four points behind Australia (124) and 15 points clear of third-placed England. South Africa are the fourth team above the 100-point mark with 103 points.

India slipped mainly because their 2-1 series win in Australia in 2020-21 has dropped from the rankings.

The order of teams ranked from third to ninth remains the same. Only nine teams are now ranked as Afghanistan and Ireland have yet to play sufficient Tests, while Zimbabwe too are out as they have played only three Tests over the past three years.

Teams need to play a minimum of eight Tests over a three-year period to get on the rankings table.

India, however, remain atop the ODI and T20I rankings after the annual updates, that weight matches completed prior to May 2023 at 50 per cent and subsequent matches at 100 per cent.

India may have lost the ODI World Cup final to Australia but have increased their lead over them from three to six points, leading the table with 122 points. There are no changes in the top 10 but Ireland have overtaken Zimbabwe to 11th position.

Third-placed South Africa have closed the gap with Australia from eight to four points, while Sri Lanka are just two points behind fifth-placed England.

The T20I rankings see Australia move ahead of England to second place but they are seven points adrift of India, who lead with 264 rating points.

South Africa are just two points behind England after leapfrogging two places from the sixth position that they had before the update. New Zealand also have 250 points like South Africa but behind on fractions, while the West Indies are at 249 points, which means that just three points separate third-placed England from sixth-placed West Indies.

In other movements, Pakistan have dropped two places to seventh, while Scotland have overtaken Zimbabwe to 12th position.

Indian players celebrate with the trophy after winning the fifth Test match against England by an innings and 64 runs, in Dharamsala on March 9, 2024
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team consolidated its top position in the World Test Championship rankings following its 4-1 series win over England.

India, following their innings and 64-run victory in Dharamsala on March 9, improved their percentage points from 64.58 to 68.51 after nine matches.

India have won six, lost two and drawn one match in the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

New Zealand, with 60 percentage points, are at second spot.

Despite lacking several frontline players and starting the five-match series with a loss in the first Test at Hyderabad, India bounced back remarkably to decimate England.

“The victory by an innings and 64 runs in Dharamsala helped them gain 12 crucial WTC points, taking their tally to 74. This has lifted their point percentage from 64.58 to 68.51,” ICC said in a statement.

India had jumped from second to first spot on the WTC table earlier this week after New Zealand lost to Australia by 172 runs in the opening Test at Wellington.

Australia are third on the table with 59.09 percentage points.

England are at eighth spot with 17.5 percentage points following the series loss to India.

India’s batter Yashasvi Jaiswal. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

India’s latest batting sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal advanced towards a top-10 spot in the ICC rankings for Test batters by climbing three spots to 12th while his compatriot Dhruv Jurel leapfrogged 31 places to 69th on Wednesday.

Jaiswal, who started the series in 69th position, continues his ascent to the top after scores of 73 and 37 in the fourth match of India’s ICC World Test Championship series against England in Ranchi.

Player of the Match Jurel’s scores of 90 and 39 has jumped a whopping 31 places while former England captain Joe Root is back in the top three.

Root, a formerly top-ranked batter, struck an unbeaten 122 in the first innings in Ranchi to move up two places to third position. He also moved up three spots to fourth among all-rounders.

Senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s five-wicket haul in the second innings has helped him narrow the gap with top-ranked Jasprit Bumrah to 21 rating points at 846 after the fast bowler was rested for the Ranchi Test.

Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav moved up 10 places to the 32nd spot and England’s Shoaib Bashir, who climbed 38 places to 80th, have also attained career bests.

Opener Zak Crawley entered the top 20 for the first time after scores of 42 and 60, while a bunch of spinners have also prospered in the latest weekly update.

The T20I Rankings see Australia batter Travis Head move into the top 20 for the first time after scores of 24, 45 and 33 in the series against New Zealand.

Tim David’s quickfire 31 off just 10 balls in the first match see him move up six places to 22nd and past the 600-point barrier for the first time in his career.

The top six bowlers are unchanged, with Josh Hazlewood the only new one in the top 10 after finishing with figures of 4-1-12-1 in Auckland.

In the ODI rankings, the biggest mover has been Namibia’s Bernard Scholtz, whose hauls of four for 31 against Nepal and two for 15 against the Netherlands in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 Tri-Series in Kirtipur have lifted him to 11th position and 642 ratings points, the highest position and points tally ever achieved by a Namibia player in ODI cricket.