Opener KL Rahul has made a huge gain of 18 slots to reach 31st position among batters in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after his Player of the Match effort in Centurion that helped India defeat South Africa by 113 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match ICC World Test Champion-ship series.
Rahul, whose best in the format was eighth position that he attained in November 2017, struck 123 in the first innings and was associated in an important 117-run opening partnership with Mayank Agrawal (60) as India became the first Asian team to win a Test match at the venue while gaining im-portant points in the WTC points table powered by MRF Tyres.
Agarwal has gained one place for his contribu-tion while Ajinkya Rahane is up two places to 25th in the latest update that is carried out on Wednes-days and includes all matches that are completed by Tuesday each week.
Fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami are other Indians to move up the rankings. Bumrah is up three spots to ninth after finishing with five wickets in the match while Shami’s eight wickets, including a five-for in the first innings, see him move up two places to 17th.—APP
