It is the ninth time that he has been at the top of the table
Joe Root has gone past Brian Lara’s career tally in Test cricket • Darren Staples/PA Images via Getty Images
Joe Root begins a ninth stint at the top of the Test batters’ rankings beckons with the England batter leapfrogging Kane Williamson to the top of the ICC rankings. Root rose to the summit with his match-winning 87 in the first innings of the Birmingham Test against West Indies. He was the only one of the top six to score more than 20, although England did rake in the runs down the order with Jamie Smith almost scoring a century. The rookie wicketkeeper-batter was also among the big movers in the rankings, going up 31 places to No. 64.
Root’s rise is the most significant of the latest update and he ticked off an arguably bigger landmark during the Test itself when he went past Brian Lara’s Test match tally of 11,953 to become the seventh highest run-getter in the format’s history. At 12,207, Root has the most runs among active Test cricketers with Steven Smith (9685) and Virat Kohli (8848) behind him. His first time at the top of the Test batting rankings was August 2015 and he was last there in June 2023, after a fine performance in the opening match of the Ashes series.
England fast bowler Mark Wood‘s Player-of-the-Match performance of 7 for 92 lifted him into the top 20 of the bowling rankings for the first time in his career.
In the men’s T20I Rankings, India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is back at No. 4 after aggregating 80 runs at a strike rate of 178 in the three-match series against Sri Lanka which his side won 3-0.
Shubman Gill moved up 16 places to a career-best 21st position. The series two highest scorers, the Sri Lankan pair of Pathum Nissanka (up 11 places to 15th) and Kusal Perera (up 40 places to joint-63rd) are the others to move up the batting rankings. India legspinner Ravi Bishnoi, who has been ranked No. 1 T20I bowler in the past, is back in the top 10.
