Rohit, Mayank reach career-best in ICC Test rankings after SA first Test

India’s hitman Rohit Sharma and his Test opening partner Mayank Agarwal, on Monday (October 7) added another highlight to their Test debuts as Rohit jumped whooping 36 slots to a career-best 17th position while Mayank rose to 25th in the ICC Test Player Rankings.

Rohit became the first batsman to score a century in each innings of his maiden Test as an opener in the first Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.

The batsman now has five centuries from 28 Tests including his debut triumph of 176 and 127 which helped India win by 203 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Mayank Agarwal, the other opener who made his debut alongside Rohit, has also attained a career-best 25th position climbing 38 places after his first-innings double century.

Captain Virat Kohli, who retained his second spot, has dropped below the 900-point mark for the first time since January 2018. He is now on 899 points, 38 behind top-ranked Steve Smith of Australia.

Also read: Rohit becomes first ever batsman to hit tons in debut as Test opener

Among the bowlers, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has made a comeback to the top 10 after his match haul of eight wickets, which included figures of seven for 145 in the first innings.

The formerly top-ranked bowler has moved up four places from 14th position and also into the top five among all-rounders.

Fast bowler Mohammad Shami has reached a career-best 710 points that took him from 18th to 16th, two below his career-best 14th rank, while Ravindra Jadeja has leap-frogged Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan to take the second position among all-rounders.

For South Africa, centurions Quinton de Kock and Dean Elgar have progressed. De Kock is back into the top 10 after gaining four places and moving to seventh while Elgar has moved five places and is in 14th position.

Also read: Mayank Agarwal records maiden Test double ton against South Africa

India have gained 40 points in the ICC World Test Championship table after the win at Visakhapatnam and are now on 160 points after having won a full 120 points for a 2-0 series win in the West Indies.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka are on 60 points each after their 1-1 series draw while Australia and England are on 56 each with their 2-2 series draw in a five-match series.

The points in the WTC are evenly distributed over the number of matches in a series (two to five), which were decided by the member countries as per their bilateral agreements.

Thus, the points can vary from 60 for each match of a two-Test series to 24 for each match of a five-Test series.

(With inputs from agencies)