Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli take MASSIVE tumble in ICC Test rankings, India captain not even in…, Jasprit Bumrah retains top spot

The downward slide of Indian star cricketers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli continued after Team India’s loss in the fifth and final Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) last week. India lost in SCG to lose the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) after 10 years with a 3-1 series loss to Pat Cummins-led Australia.

With Rohit stepping down from captaincy and missing the SCG Test, the Indian skipper has slid out of the top 40 in the ICC Test batters rankings. After scoring just 31 runs in the Tests vs Australia, Rohit is now 42nd position, down 2 position from last week.

Former India skipper Virat Kohli didn’t do much better in SCG in the final Test as well. His twin failures at SCG mean that he has slipped 3 positions to 27th spot currently. But there was some good news for Rishabh Pant, who returned to the top 10 in the batting rankings after scoring a blazing second-innings fifty and 40 in the two knocks in Sydney. Pant is now in 9th position currently.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal continues to be the highest-ranked Indian batter at No. 4 position. England batter continues to be at No. 1 followed by his teammate Harry Brook and former New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson.

Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam made a big jump in the ranking his two fifties in the second Test loss to South Africa this week. Babar has risen 5 positions to 12th place currently.

Jasprit Bumrah remains at the top of the list adding one rating point and going up to 908 (improving on the record for Indian bowlers) even as Australia captain Pat Cummins and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada have inched up a slot each to reach second and third positions, respectively.

Jasprit Bumrah hits his career-best ICC Test Rating

The No.1 ranked bowler keeps getting better and better pic.twitter.com/EPvVFumSuP

— Sport360° (@Sport360) January 8, 2025

Australian fast bowler Scott Boland has broken into the top 10 of the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings for the first time after helping his team defeat India by six wickets in Sydney to win their ICC World Test Championship series 3-1.

The 35-year-old, who finished with a haul of 10 for 86 in the fifth Test match, has progressed 29 slots and is ranked joint-ninth along with India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Boland’s previous best was 36th position that he had attained in June 2023 after picking five wickets in the ICC World Test Championship Final against India.

In the latest weekly rankings that also take into consideration the second Test between South Africa and Pakistan in Cape Town and the second Test between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan in Bulawayo, South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj has advanced two places to 17th position after taking five wickets in Cape Town while Blessing Muzarabani of Zimbabwe (up five places to 43rd) and Rashid Khan of Afghanistan (re-entered at 54th position) are others to gain.

Huge gains for South Africa batters

South Africa batters have made huge inroads after their 10-wicket victory over Pakistan. Ryan Rickelton’s match-winning 259 has lifted him 48 places to 55th position while captain Temba Bavuma (up three places to a career-best-equalling sixth position) and wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne (up four places to 24th) have also advanced after notching centuries.

South Africa’s Marco Jansen, named Player of the Series after finishing with 10 wickets and 80 runs, has moved up two slots to second among all-rounders.

In the Men’s ODI Rankings, Will Young (up nine places to joint-13th) and Rachin Ravindra (up six places to joint-50th) in batting and Matt Henry (up six places to 12th) in bowling have gained after the first match of their series against Sri Lanka in Wellington.

Kusal Perera (up 26 places to 10th) of Sri Lanka and Daryl Mitchell (up five places to 41st) of New Zealand have moved up the T20I batting list after the last match of a preceding T20I series while Nuwan Thushara (up nine places to 26th) and Henry (up four places to 38th) are among the bowlers to progress.