Sangakkara and Herath hold on to their Test rankings
Pakistan and New Zealand cricketers have continued to progress in the Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings following the drawn second Test in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday.
Kumar Sangakkara
Sarfraz Ahmed has achieved a career-best ranking of 18th position in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, which were released on Saturday, following his scores of 112 and 24 not out against Brendon McCullum’s charges.
McCullum himself has broken into the top 20 and moved up two places to 19th after his innings of 43 and 45. His team-mate Tom Latham moved up 19 places to 36th position after his second Test century – 137 runs – in the first innings, while Mark Craig has vaulted 28 places into 97th after scores of 43 and 34.
Rangana Herath
In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, New Zealand’s Trent Boult has climbed three places to 10th position after taking four wickets for 81 runs in the match.
For Pakistan, Zulfiqar Babar gained three places and is now in a career high 28th following his match figures of eight for 233. Yasir Shah moved up five places to 30th, while Black Caps’ off-spinner Craig is another player to progress, advancing three places to 88th.
The batting table continues to be headed by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, while Dale Steyn leads the bowlers’ list. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan is the number-one ranked all-rounder.
With Pakistan now holding a 1-0 lead in the series, the third and deciding Test will start in Sharjah on Wednesday.
Meanwhile two Sri Lankans – batsman Kumar Sangakkara and left arm spinner Rangana Herath in spite of playing their last Test match in August have held on to their respective Test rankings at number one and number three respectively.
