Ishant, Umesh move up in Test rankings

Indian pacers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have moved up in the recent Test rankings released by the International Cricket Council on Sunday.

Sharma now sits at 20th spot while Yadav has secured the 22nd place. In other significant movements for India after they secured a 1-0 lead in the two-Test match series against Bangladesh, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has advanced four slots to reach joint-35th position among batsmen.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin remains among the top 10 bowlers while moving back to the fourth position among all-rounders.

Meanwhile, India strengthened their position in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) standings by reaching 300 points. They are yet to concede a point, having gained a full 120 points each in their three-Test home series against South Africa and two-Test series in the West Indies.

Each Test of the ongoing two-match series is worth 60 points since the 120 points up for grab in a series are evenly distributed over the number of matches in a series. The points range from 60 points for each match of a two-Test series to 24 for each match of a five-Test series.

Sri Lanka and New Zealand are on 60 points each after drawing their two-match series 1-1 while England and Australia are on 56 each after their five-match Ashes series ended 2-2. The West Indies and South Africa failed to get any points in their opening series.

Pakistan will play their first WTC series against Australia starting later this week. The first match of the two-Test series starts in Brisbane on Thursday while the second Test, a day-night fixture, will be played in Adelaide from 29 November.

The top two teams at the end of the league will play the final in the UK in June 2021 with the winners crowned the World Test Champions.