Sohan, Khaled go up, Shakib slips

Nurul Hasan Sohan and Khaled Ahmed received a significant rise in the ICC Men’s Test player rankings updated on Wednesday.

Sohan, who scored two half-centuries in the two Tests against West Indies jumped 14 places and now seats at 84th position in the Test batting rankings.

Khaled Ahmed, after taking his first five-wicket-haul in St Lucia gained nine spots in the rankings and moved up to 88th place.

Nazmul Hossain, who is facing constant criticism for his poor performance also gained a few spots; we climbed up 11 steps and are now at 88th position.

Shakib Al Hasan slips six steps in batting ranking, dropped down to 39 and Tamim Iqbal went one step down to 38th position. The Bangladesh Test captain also lost his second place in the Test All-rounder rankings, Shakib went down to the third position and Ravichandran Ashwin climbs up to the second.

Joe Root strengthened his place at the top of the batting rankings with a top-notch performance against New Zealand. Having 899 rating points, Root is leading the Test batting rankings, while Marnus Labuschagne is just seven points behind him.

The New Zealand batting pair of Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell have attained career-best positions in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings as has England spinner Jack Leach, after superb performances in the third match of their ICC World Test Championship series in Leeds.

Mitchell and Blundell, who were involved in century partnerships in all three Tests of the series, are both in the top 20 now. Mitchell’s scores of 109 and 56 see him advance four places to 12th position while Blundell’s knocks of 55 and 88 not out have lifted him 11 slots to 20th position.

England batter Jonny Bairstow, who has been quite the centerpiece with his blistering knocks in this series, has advanced 20 places to 21st after scoring 162 and 71 not out while Oliver Pope is up three places to 49th after his 82 in the second innings of the Test, which England won by seven wickets to complete a 3-0 series victory.

West Indies skipper Kraig Brathwaite is up one place to 27th after his first-innings half-century while Kyle Mayers (up 22 places to 57th) and John Campbell (up four places to 76th) are the others to move up the batters’ list for the West Indies, who won the WTC series 2-0.