Root, Herath climb to second positions in ICC Test rankings

Root’s knocks of 124 and four in the drawn opening match of a five-Test series against India in Rajkot have seen him overtake New Zealand captain Kane Williamson in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen.

Root, who was top-ranked in August 2015 during a home series against Australia and again two months later during a series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, is three points ahead of Williamson at 844 points and 42 points adrift of Australia captain Steve Smith.

England captain Alastair Cook, who had scores of 21 and 130 in Rajkot, has moved up one slot to 10th rank and his team-mates Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes have made significant gains after slamming first-innings centuries in Rajkot. Ali has moved up six slots to reach 26th rank while Stokes has gained eight places to reach 32nd position.

Teenage debutant opener Haseeb Hameed has made an impressive entry in the rankings list at 64th position after scoring 31 and 82.

Among the India batsmen, Cheteshwar Pujara has gained two places to reach 11th rank, captain Virat Kohli has moved up one place to 14th position and opener Murali Vijay has moved up two places to 23rd rank.

Sri Lanka batsman Dhananjaya de Silva (30th) and the Zimbabwe pair of Craig Ervine (56th) and Sean Williams (71st) have attained career-best rankings after their performances in the second and final Test between the two teams in Harare.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, stand-in captain Herath’s match haul of 13-152 in Harare that helped Sri Lanka complete a 2-0 series win, have lifted him ahead of pace bowlers Dale Steyn of South Africa and James Anderson of England.

Herath has reached number-two rank in the past - in November 2012 and August 2014 – but now enjoys a career-best rating of 867 points and is only 14 points behind India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Another spinner to move up the rankings is England leg-spinner Adil Rashid who has gained 17 places to reach 61st position after taking seven wickets in Rajkot.

England’s Ben Stokes has reached a career-best third-ranking among all-rounders but is 56 points behind second-paced Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh and 106 behind Ashwin.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 14 November after the Harare and Rajkot Tests)

Batsmen (top 20)

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Pts        Avge      Highest Rating

   1         ( - )        Steve Smith         Aus        886       57.40     936 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   2         (+1)       Joe Root                Eng       844       53.55     917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3         (-1)        K. Williamson     NZ         841       50.31     893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   4         ( - )        Younus Khan       Pak        832       53.98     880 v SL at Lahore 2009

   5         (+1)       Hashim Amla      SA         803       50.47     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   6         (+1)       AB de Villiers     SA         794       50.46     935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   7         (+1)       David Warner      Aus        793       48.98     880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   8         (+1)       Adam Voges        Aus        778*     67.40     824 v SL at Galle 2016

   9         (-4)        Ajinkya Rahane   Ind         777       49.40     825 v NZ at Indore 2016

  10        (+1)       Alastair Cook      Eng        765       47.12     874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012

Other selected rankings

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Pts        Avge      Highest Rating

11          (+2)       C. Pujara              Ind         745       49.95     851 v SA at Durban 2013

14          (+1)       Virat Kohli          Ind         725       46.11     784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

23          (+2)       Murali Vijay        Ind         661       40.82     747 v SA at Bengaluru 2015

26          (+6)       Moeen Ali           Eng        631!      35.38     631 v Ind at Rajkot 2016

30          (+6)       D de Silva            SL          612*!    61.11     612 v Zim at Harare 2016

32          (+8)       Ben Stokes           Eng        602!      35.70     602 v Ind at Rajkot 2016

56          (+20)     Craig Ervine        Zim        454*!    33.50     454 v SL at Harare 2016

64          (new)     Haseeb Hameed   Eng        413*!    56.50     413 v Ind at Rajkot 2016

71          (+21)     Sean Williams     Zim        390*!    30.33     390 v SL at Harare 2016

Bowlers (top 20)

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Pts        Avge      Highest Rating

   1         ( - )        R. Ashwin            Ind         881       24.99     900 v NZ at Indore 2016

   2         (+2)       Rangana Herath   SL          867!      27.98     867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   3         (-1)        Dale Steyn           SA         861       22.30     909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   4         (-1)        James Anderson  Eng        844       28.28     884 v SL at Durham 2016

   5         (+1)       Yasir Shah           Pak        820       27.37     878 v Eng at Lord's 2016

   6         (-1)        Stuart Broad        Eng        805       28.64     880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

   7         ( - )        Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         796*     24.23     809 v NZ at Kolkata 2016

   8         ( - )        Mitchell Starc     Aus        777       27.76     792 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2016

   9         ( - )        Josh Hazlewood  Aus        732*     26.95      792 v WI at Hobart 2015

  10        ( - )        Neil Wagner        NZ         731*     29.63     760 v SA at Centurion 2016

Other selected rankings

Rank     (+/-)       Player                 Team     Pts        Avge      Highest Rating

39         (+1)       S. Lakmal            SL          401*     47.65     405 v Zim at Harare 2016

61         (+17)      Adil Rashid         Eng        249*!    42.86     249 v Ind at Rajkot 2016

65         (+11)     Carl Mumba        Zim        223*!    37.25     223 v SL at Harare 2016

66         (+15)     Graeme Cremer   Zim        221*     52.00     270 v SA at Centurion 2005

83         (+16)     Donald Tiripano  Zim        144*!    52.44     144 v SL at Harare 2016

All-rounders (top five)

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Pts        Highest Rating

   1         ( - )        R.Ashwin             Ind         455!      455 v Eng at Rajkot 2016

   2         ( - )        S. Al Hasan          Ban        405       419 v Zim at Khulna 2014

   3         (+1)       Ben Stokes           Eng        349 /*!  349 v Ind at Rajkot 2016

   4         (-1)        Moeen Ali           Eng        347 /*!  347 v Ind at Rajkot 2016

   5         ( - )        Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         296*/*! 296 v Eng at Rajkot 2016

*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