Suspended Kagiso Rabada Claims Top Bowling Spot In ICC Test Rankings
Kagiso Rabada has been suspended for the remaining two Test matches of the South Africa-Australia series.
South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, in spite of being suspended for rest of the Test series against Australia, has reclaimed the top spot in the latest ICC Test Rankings released on Tuesday. The 22-year-old produced a stellar performance to record the figures of 11/150 in the second Test at Port Elizabeth, ensuring South Africa's series-levelling six-wicket win. Rabada leapfrogged England's James Anderson to be the number one Test bowler in the world with 902 ranking points. Rabada has been suspended for the remaining two Tests after his send-off of Australian captain Steven Smith in the first innings at St George's Park landed him a Level 2 charge by match referee Jeff Crowe, which carried a 50 percent fine of his match fee and three demerit points to his disciplinary record.
On the batting front, AB de Villiers, who recently made a comeback to the whites, reached the seventh spot in the batting charts after scoring an unbeaten 126 and 28 in the game.
Hashim Amla also gained one slot to reach the ninth spot, while Alastair Cook slipped two ranks to reach 10.
In the bowling charts, India's Ravichandran Ashwin gained two spots, and is currently on the fourth spot, while Australian pacer Mitchell Starc slipped as many as four positions, but continued to stay in the top-10, currently stationed at the ninth spot.
The ICC Test batting list continues to be led by Steven Smith, with Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Kane Williamson and David Warner following him.
Here's the complete list:
Batting: 1. Steven Smith, 2. Virat Kohli, 3. Joe Root 4. Kane Williamson, 5. David Warner, 6. Cheteshwar Pujara, 7. AB de Villiers, 8. Azhar Ali, 9. Hashim Amla, 10. Alastair Cook
Bowling: 1. Kagiso Rabada, 2. James Anderson, 3. Ravindra Jadeja, 4. Ravichandran Ashwin, 5. Josh Hazlewood, 6. Neil Wagner, 7. Rangana Herath, 8. Vernon Philander, 9. Mitchell Starc, 10. Nathan Lyon
All-rounders: 1. Shakib Al Hasan, 2. Ravindra Jadeja, 3. Ravichandran Ashwin, 4. Ben Stokes, 5. Vernon Philander.