Pat Cummins Test Rankings Virat Kohli

India’s Virat Kohli (R) congratulates Australia’s Pat Cummins (L) on the third day of the first cricket Test match between Australia and India in Adelaide on December 19, 2020. Photo: William WEST / AFP

Test Rankings: Cummins firms as number one bowler

Pat Cummins and Steve Smith remain the highest-ranked bowler and batsman respectively in the latest ICC Test Rankings.

Pat Cummins Test Rankings Virat Kohli

India’s Virat Kohli (R) congratulates Australia’s Pat Cummins (L) on the third day of the first cricket Test match between Australia and India in Adelaide on December 19, 2020. Photo: William WEST / AFP

Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins strengthened his position at the top of the ICC Test Rankings in the latest update.

The Test rankings were updated after Australia’s eight wicket victory in the first Border-Gavaskar series match against India in Adelaide.

Cummins soars on seven-wicket match haul

Cummins took seven wickets in the match to gain six points and move from 904 to 910, which is a comfortable lead over Stuart Broad in second place. 

Another Aussie quick, Josh Hazelwood, returned astonishing figures of 5/8 in India’s second innings which helped him gain four spots and move back into the top five with 805 points, the first time since March 2018. 

With four wickets in Australia’s first innings, India spinner Ravi Ashwin has overtaken Jasprit Bumrah as the country’s top-ranked bowler, currently occupying ninth place.

Virat Kohli managed to fractionally close the gap on Steve Smith at the top of the Test Rankings for batsmen. Kohli cut the gap from 25 points to 13 points thanks to a first innings knock of 74 which enabled him to gain two points, whereas Smith lost 10 points in the table after knocks of 1 and 1*.

Australia’s South African-born middle order stalwart Marnus Labuschagne’s put in digs of 47 and 6 but in such a low-scoring match those efforts have pushed him to a career-best 839 points.

Captain Tim Paine’s player-of-the-match innings of 73 not out lifted him to a career-best 33rd place with 592 points. His previous best was 45th in December of 2018. 

Joe Burns vindicated selectors faith with an unbeaten 51 in the fourth innings at Adelaide that saw him move into 48th place. This is the first time Burns has been in the top 50 since 2016.

Test Player Rankings (as of 19 December, after the Australia vs India Pink-ball Test in Adelaide)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank(+/-)PlayerTeamPtsAvgeHighest Rating
1( – )Steve SmithAus91162.84947 v SA at Durban 2018
2( – )Virat KohliIndia88853.41937 v Eng at Southampton 2018
2( – )Kane WilliamsonNZ87752.55915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019
4( – )Marnus LabuschagneAus839*!60.48839 v India at Adelaide 2020
5( – )Babar AzamPak79745.44800 v Ban at Rawalpindi 2020
6( – )David WarnerAus79348.94880 v NZ at Perth 2015
7(+1)Ben StokesEng76037.84827 v WI at Old Trafford 2020
8(-1)Cheteshwar PujaraIndia75548.22888 v SL at Nagpur 2017
9( – )Joe RootEng73847.99917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
10( +1 )Tom LathamNZ72442.65733 v WI at Hamilton 2020

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank         (+/-)Player             Team  Pts     Avge   Highest Rating
1( – )Pat CumminsAus91021.26914 v Eng at Old Trafford 2019
2( – )Stuart BroadEng84527.65880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
3( – )Neil WagnerNZ84026.33859 v Aus at Melbourne 2019
4( – )Tim SoutheeNZ825!28.58825 v WI at Wellington 2020
5(+4)Josh HazlewoodAus80525.69864 v India at Bengaluru 2017
6( – )Kagiso RabadaSA80222.95902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
7( – )Mitchell StarcAus80026.78807 v NZ at Perth 2019
8( – )James AndersonEng78126.79903 v India at Lord’s 2018
9(+1)R AshwinIndia77725.27904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016
10(+1)Jason HolderWI75327.94862 v Eng at Southampton 2020

All-rounders (top five)

Rank                     (+/-)Player Team  Pts     Highest Rating
1( – )Ben StokesEng446497 v WI at Old Trafford 2020
2( – )Jason HolderWI423485 v Eng at Southampton 2020
3( – )Ravindra JadejaIndia389438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
4( – )Shakib Al HasanBan366489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
5( – )Mitchell StarcAus301346 v India at Pune 2017

*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
!indicates career-highest rating