Root consolidates top position with twin centuries

England batting star Joe Root has consolidated his position at the top of the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings after notching up centuries in both innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s that his team won by 190 runs to take a winning 2-0 lead in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series.

Root’s scores of 143 and 103 have helped him grab a whopping 41 rating points, increasing his lead over Kane Williamson to 63 points. Root is now on 922 rating points, just one shy of his best of 923 that he had reached after scoring 31 and 142 not out against India at Edgbaston in July 2022. Only three England batters have attained higher points tallies – Len Hutton, Jack Hobbs and Peter May.

Darryl Mitchell of New Zealand, Steve Smith of Australia and Harry Brook of England take positions three to five in the Test batters’ list and are followed by a trio of India players – captain Rohit Sharma, his opening partner Yashaswi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli.

Gus Atkinson is another player to gain big after starring with both bat and ball at Lord’s to earn the Player of the Match award. His maiden first-class century – 118 in the first innings – has lifted him 80 places to 96th in the ranking for batters while his five-wicket haul in the second innings has helped him move up 14 places to 28th among bowlers. He is also up 48 places to 17th in the all-rounders’ list led by Ravindra Jadeja.

Kamindu Mendis (up 11 places to 25th), Jamie Smith (up five places to 37th) and Pathum Nissanka (re-entered at 82nd position) are other notable movements for batters performing at Lord’s while Asitha Fernando’s eight wickets have lifted him into the top 10 for the first time.

Bangladesh’s six-wicket victory at Rawalpindi that helped seal a historic 2-0 series victory over Pakistan and see them in fourth position in the WTC points table on percentage points, has resulted in some major gains for their players.

Wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das has reached a career-best 15th position after rescuing his side from a precarious 26 for six in the first innings, scoring a solid 138 and adding 165 runs with Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Mehidy, who contributed a crucial 78 runs, has progressed 10 places to 75th among batters while his figures of five for 61 in the first innings have helped him move from 23rd to 22nd among bowlers and up to seventh among all-rounders.

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