Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Noman Ali has made a major jump in the ICC Men’s Test Bowler Rankings and is now closing in on India’s Jasprit Bumrah for the first position.
According to ICC press release, the Pakistan spinner achieved a new career-high rating after an outstanding performance in the first Test against South Africa.
Noman claimed a brilliant 10-wicket haul in Pakistan’s 93-run win in Lahore, which lifted him four places to second in the updated Test bowler rankings.
He now stands at 853 rating points, just 29 points behind Bumrah, who continues to hold the top spot.
Noman’s rise was one of several ranking boosts for Pakistan, as left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi also climbed three spots to 19th after picking up four wickets in the same match.
READ: Pakistan spinner Asif Afridi makes history on Test debut
Pakistan’s batters enjoyed rankings gains as well. Wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan jumped four places to 16th, Babar Azam moved up two spots to 22nd, and Salman Ali Agha climbed eight positions to 30th on the Test batting chart still led by England’s Joe Root.
For South Africa, Ryan Rickelton entered the top 50 for the first time with his scores of 71 and 45, while Tony de Zorzi’s century pushed him to 54th.
There were changes in white-ball rankings, too. Australia’s victory against India in the first ODI in Perth brought rewards for their players, as stand-in captain Mitchell Marsh rose to 42nd among ODI batters.
Bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc also made progress, moving to 10th and 21st respectively.
India pacer Mohammed Siraj remained at 17th in the ODI bowler rankings, while Bangladesh spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz climbed to 18th after his recent performances against the West Indies.
England’s T20I stars were also on the move, with Harry Brook jumping 18 places to sit at 20th among T20I batters.
Spinner Adil Rashid rose to third in the T20I bowler rankings following a strong showing in the win against New Zealand in Christchurch.
