Published 14:53 IST, December 16th 2019
Labuschagne, Starc break into the top 5; King Kohli's reign continues in ICC Test rankings
In the new Test player rankings released by ICC on Monday, Virat Kohli continued to remain on top while Australia's Marnus Labuschagne grabbed the 5th position
After eventful cricketing weekend which witnessed Australia thrash New Zealand in the first Test at Perth by 296 runs while Pakistan and Sri Lanka managed to draw the match owing to weather obstructions, ICC released new Test player rankings on Monday.
Owing to Australia's number three's third consecutive century, Marnus Labuschagne broke into the top 5 of the ICC Test batsman rankings with 786 points. Labuschagne missed out on his 150 but played a brilliant innings of 143 as he helped Australia put a mammoth total 416 in the first innings and also played a significant innings of 50 runs in the second to innings which helped him grab the fifth position.
King Kohli reign continues
Pakistan's ace batsman, Babar Azam also jumped four positions to break into the top 10 of the ICC Test rankings. The number one T20 player on ICC T20 rankings, Azam scored a prolific century against Sri Lanka at Rawalpindi helping him earn 728 points to grab the number nine position. Meanwhile, Indian skipper remained unmoved as he continues to top the table with 928 points with Australia's Steve Smith sneaking up on him with 911 points. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane also remained unmoved as they ranked fourth and sixth respectively.
Owing to his thrilling and prolific attack attributed with figures of 9-97 against the Blackcaps, Mitchell Starc leapt over 9 positions to grab the fifth spot with 806 points. Neil Wagner also jumped a spot forth to grab the third position with 834 points in the ICC Test bowlers rankings. Meanwhile, Patrick Cummins continued to top the rankings with 898 points. However, India's ace pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, who has been out with an injury, dropped a position and claimed the sixth spot with 794 points.
Updated 15:54 IST, December 16th 2019