Test Rankings: Cummins firms as number one bowler

Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins strengthened his position at the top of the ICC Test Rankings in the latest update.

The Test rankings were updated after Australia’s eight wicket victory in the first Border-Gavaskar series match against India in Adelaide.

Cummins soars on seven-wicket match haul

Cummins took seven wickets in the match to gain six points and move from 904 to 910, which is a comfortable lead over Stuart Broad in second place. 

Another Aussie quick, Josh Hazelwood, returned astonishing figures of 5/8 in India’s second innings which helped him gain four spots and move back into the top five with 805 points, the first time since March 2018. 

With four wickets in Australia’s first innings, India spinner Ravi Ashwin has overtaken Jasprit Bumrah as the country’s top-ranked bowler, currently occupying ninth place.

Virat Kohli managed to fractionally close the gap on Steve Smith at the top of the Test Rankings for batsmen. Kohli cut the gap from 25 points to 13 points thanks to a first innings knock of 74 which enabled him to gain two points, whereas Smith lost 10 points in the table after knocks of 1 and 1*.

Australia’s South African-born middle order stalwart Marnus Labuschagne’s put in digs of 47 and 6 but in such a low-scoring match those efforts have pushed him to a career-best 839 points.

Captain Tim Paine’s player-of-the-match innings of 73 not out lifted him to a career-best 33rd place with 592 points. His previous best was 45th in December of 2018. 

Joe Burns vindicated selectors faith with an unbeaten 51 in the fourth innings at Adelaide that saw him move into 48th place. This is the first time Burns has been in the top 50 since 2016.

Test Player Rankings (as of 19 December, after the Australia vs India Pink-ball Test in Adelaide)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	Highest Rating
1	( – )	Steve Smith	Aus	911	62.84	947 v SA at Durban 2018
2	( – )	Virat Kohli	India	888	53.41	937 v Eng at Southampton 2018
2	( – )	Kane Williamson	NZ	877	52.55	915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019
4	( – )	Marnus Labuschagne	Aus	839*!	60.48	839 v India at Adelaide 2020
5	( – )	Babar Azam	Pak	797	45.44	800 v Ban at Rawalpindi 2020
6	( – )	David Warner	Aus	793	48.94	880 v NZ at Perth 2015
7	(+1)	Ben Stokes	Eng	760	37.84	827 v WI at Old Trafford 2020
8	(-1)	Cheteshwar Pujara	India	755	48.22	888 v SL at Nagpur 2017
9	( – )	Joe Root	Eng	738	47.99	917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
10	( +1 )	Tom Latham	NZ	724	42.65	733 v WI at Hamilton 2020

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	Highest Rating
1	( – )	Pat Cummins	Aus	910	21.26	914 v Eng at Old Trafford 2019
2	( – )	Stuart Broad	Eng	845	27.65	880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
3	( – )	Neil Wagner	NZ	840	26.33	859 v Aus at Melbourne 2019
4	( – )	Tim Southee	NZ	825!	28.58	825 v WI at Wellington 2020
5	(+4)	Josh Hazlewood	Aus	805	25.69	864 v India at Bengaluru 2017
6	( – )	Kagiso Rabada	SA	802	22.95	902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
7	( – )	Mitchell Starc	Aus	800	26.78	807 v NZ at Perth 2019
8	( – )	James Anderson	Eng	781	26.79	903 v India at Lord’s 2018
9	(+1)	R Ashwin	India	777	25.27	904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016
10	(+1)	Jason Holder	WI	753	27.94	862 v Eng at Southampton 2020

All-rounders (top five)

Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Highest Rating
1	( – )	Ben Stokes	Eng	446	497 v WI at Old Trafford 2020
2	( – )	Jason Holder	WI	423	485 v Eng at Southampton 2020
3	( – )	Ravindra Jadeja	India	389	438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
4	( – )	Shakib Al Hasan	Ban	366	489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
5	( – )	Mitchell Starc	Aus	301	346 v India at Pune 2017

*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
!indicates career-highest rating