Rabada back as No. 1 in ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings

After taking nine wickets in the opening game of their ICC World Test Championship series against Bangladesh in Mirpur, South Africa's fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC Men's Test Bowling Rankings.

After helping his team win the match by seven wickets, the 29-year-old, who became the fastest player to reach 300 Test wickets on the opening day of the Test match, has surpassed Josh Hazlewood, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravichandran Ashwin to take the top spot.

Following the Newlands Test against India in January 2018, Rabada initially dominated the rankings, a position he maintained for the majority of the following year.

Left-arm spinners Noman Ali of Pakistan and Mitchel Santner of New Zealand have also made significant strides in the most recent weekly rankings update, which also takes into account results from the second Test match between India and New Zealand in Pune and the third Test match between Pakistan and England in Rawalpindi.

Noman, who finished with nine wickets in Rawalpindi as Pakistan triumphed by nine wickets to win the WTC series 2-1, is in the top 10 for the first time, climbing eight spots to ninth place.

After Richard Hadlee's 15 for 123 and Ajaz Patel's 14 for 224, Santner's 13 for 157 in the 113-run victory in Pune is the third-best by a Kiwi bowler. He has moved up 30 spots to 44th place, five spots behind his career-high 39th place from January 2017.

Other bowlers who have advanced include Wiaan Mulder of South Africa (up nine spots to 50th), Sajid Khan of Pakistan (up 12 spots to 38th), Gus Atkinson of England (up two spots to 22nd), and Taijul Islam of Bangladesh (up three spots to 18th).

After scores of 30 and 77, India's opener Yashaswi Jaiswal has returned to number three in the batting rankings, while left-handers Saud Shakeel of Pakistan and Rachin Ravindra of New Zealand have made their debut appearances in the top 10.

After winning Player of the Match with a knock of 134, Shakeel moved up 20 spots to seventh place, while Ravindra moved up eight spots to 10th place with a handy half-century in the first innings.

Other notable risers in the batting rankings include Bangladesh's Mehidy Hasan Miraz (up nine spots to 63rd), Pakistan captain Shan Masood (up five spots to 57th), England's Jamie Smith (up seven places to 37th), and New Zealanders Devon Conway (up eight spots to 28th), Tom Latham (up six places to 34th), and Glenn Phillips (up 16 places to 45th).

While Washington Sundar of India has returned to the rankings at 53rd place among bowlers, 84th place among batters, and 25th place among all-rounders, Mehidy has also risen two spots to third place in the all-rounders' list.

With one more game left in the series against India and three home Test matches against England, New Zealand could move up to 64.29 percent in the ICC World Test Championship standings, which currently have them at number four with 50 points.

With 62.82 percentage points, India leads, but they face Australia, who are now in second place, in a difficult five-match away series, with Sri Lanka in third.