Mitchell Starc dethrones Jasprit Bumrah, becomes ICC No. 1 Test bowler for first time in his career

Mitchell Starc has become the No. 1 bowler in the ICC Test rankings for the first time in his career after his performance against Bangladesh in the second Test in Mackay.

The Australian fast bowler took 10 wickets in the match, including 6/12 in the first innings and 4/39 in the second, helping Australia register an innings and 51-run win and level the World Test Championship series.

The 36-year-old left-arm pacer moved ahead of New Zealand’s Matt Henry and India’s Jasprit Bumrah in the latest rankings. Starc now leads Bumrah by 10 rating points.

Starc’s previous best ranking was No. 2, which he first achieved after the Boxing Day Test last year. He was also named Player of the Match and Player of the Series against Bangladesh.

Bumrah’s latest spell as the world’s No. 1 Test bowler lasted two months. Overall, he has spent 697 days at the top of the rankings, the most by an Indian bowler and the 14th-highest total in Test cricket history. Bumrah is currently out of India’s series against Sri Lanka because of an injury.

England pacer Ollie Robinson was another big mover in the rankings after taking 5/51 and 3/39 in England’s innings and 103-run win over Pakistan in Leeds. He climbed 15 places to No. 11.

His teammate Josh Tongue also moved up 16 places to No. 17 after taking eight wickets in the same Test.

India’s Manav Suthar jumped 28 places to a career-best No. 48 after his 10-wicket match haul in India’s 165-run win over Sri Lanka in Galle.

Sri Lanka bowlers Asitha Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya both gained five places to reach No. 15 and No. 16 respectively.

Other bowlers to move up include Australia’s Nathan Lyon, who climbed two places to No. 10, Pakistan spinner Ali Usman, who moved up 30 places to No. 67, England fast bowler Jofra Archer, who rose six places to joint-38th, India’s Prasidh Krishna, who climbed two places to No. 53, and Bangladesh’s Shoriful Islam, who moved up 17 places to No. 57.

In the batting rankings, Harry Brook increased his lead at the top after scoring 90 against Pakistan. He now leads teammate Joe Root by 24 rating points.

India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant returned to the top 10 for the first time in a year after scores of 39 and 66 against Sri Lanka. He climbed six places to No. 7.

Other batting gains came for Australia’s Cameron Green, Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva and Sonal Dinusha, Pakistan’s Abdullah Shafique, India’s KL Rahul, and Devdutt Padikkal, who re-entered the rankings at No. 59.