Photo Credit: ICC
India opener Rohit Sharma has progressed six places to a career-best eighth position in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after a fine performance in the low-scoring third Test against England in Ahmedabad that the home side won by 10 wickets to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
- Patel and Ashwin make rapid strides; Root and Leach too move up after shining with the ball in Ahmedabad
- MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings shift to weekly updating system from March 2021
Rohit top-scored in the first innings with 66 and remained unbeaten on 25 in the second to move ahead of compatriot Cheteshwar Pujara among others. His rating points aggregate is 742, 20 more than his best of 722 in October 2019 when he was ranked 10th.
Player of the match Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin have also made solid gains after helping carve out a crucial win that helped India remain in contention for the ICC World Test Championship final. Left-arm spinner Patel’s 11-wicket match haul has helped him gain 30 slots to reach 38th position while off-spinner Ashwin’s seven wickets have lifted him four places to third position.
England spinner Jack Leach has entered the top 30 for the first time, moving up three places to 28th after taking four wickets. Captain Joe Root’s maiden five-wicket haul has lifted him 16 places to 72nd among bowlers while he is now joint-13th among all-rounders.
Opener Zak Crawley’s knock of 53 in the first innings has helped him advance 15 places to 46th in what was the only notable gain for any of their batsmen.
Meanwhile, the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings move to a weekly updating system from March 2021.
The women’s player rankings will be updated at 12h00 Dubai time (08h00 GMT) each Tuesday, which will include performances in all ODI and T20I matches completed till the previous day.
Similarly, the men’s player rankings will be updated at 12h00 Dubai time (08h00 GMT) on Wednesdays across all three formats and will include performances in matches completed by the previous day.
So, the first update under the weekly system will be on Tuesday, 2 March for women and Wednesday, 3 March for men.
The change will not impact the way the rankings are calculated but what it means is that instead of rankings being updated at the end of a series (in ODIs and T20Is) or a Test match, they may be updated while a series or match is ongoing without performances in those matches being considered.
The change is being brought about to bring regularity to the ranking updates for both men and women, ensuring that fans know when to expect the latest updates.
MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 28 February 2021, after the third India-England Test in Ahmedabad)
Batsmen (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | K Williamson | NZ | 919! | 54.31 | 919 v Pak at Christchurch 2021 |
| 2 | ( – ) | Steve Smith | Aus | 891 | 61.8 | 947 v SA at Durban 2018 |
| 3 | ( – ) | M Labuschagne | Aus | 878*! | 60.8 | 878 v India at Brisbane 2021 |
| 4 | ( – ) | Joe Root | Eng | 853 | 49.6 | 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015 |
| 5 | ( – ) | Virat Kohli | India | 836 | 52.74 | 937 v Eng at Southampton 2018 |
| 6 | ( – ) | Babar Azam | Pak | 760 | 44.22 | 800 v Ban at Rawalpindi 2020 |
| 7 | ( – ) | Henry Nicholls | NZ | 747 | 43.91 | 778 v Ban at Wellington 2019 |
| 8 | (+6) | Rohit Sharma | India | 742 ! | 46.65 | 742 v Eng at Ahmedabad 2021 |
| 9 | ( – ) | David Warner | Aus | 724 | 48.09 | 880 v NZ at Perth 2015 |
| 10 | (-2) | C Pujara | India | 708 | 46.81 | 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017 |
Other selected rankings
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 46 | (+15) | Zak Crawley | Eng | 537* | 37.16 | 605 v Pak at Southampton 2020 |
Bowlers (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | Pat Cummins | Aus | 908 | 21.59 | 914 v Eng at Old Trafford 2019 |
| 2 | ( – ) | Neil Wagner | NZ | 825 | 26.32 | 859 v Aus at Melbourne 2019 |
| 3 | (+4) | R Ashwin | India | 823 | 24.95 | 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016 |
| 4 | ( – ) | J Hazlewood | Aus | 816 | 25.65 | 864 v India at Bengaluru 2017 |
| 5 | ( – ) | Tim Southee | NZ | 811 | 28.7 | 826 v Pak at Mount Maunganui 2020 |
| 6 | (-3) | J Anderson | Eng | 809 | 26.52 | 903 v India at Lord’s 2018 |
| 7 | (-1) | Stuart Broad | Eng | 800 | 27.71 | 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016 |
| 8 | (+1) | Kagiso Rabada | SA | 753 | 23.36 | 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018 |
| 9 | (-1) | Jasprit Bumrah | India | 746* | 22.1 | 834 v WI at Jamaica 2019 |
| 10 | ( – ) | Mitchell Starc | Aus | 744 | 27.57 | 807 v NZ at Perth 2019 |
Other selected rankings
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 28 | (+3) | Jack Leach | Eng | 578*! | 29.5 | 578 v India at Ahmedabad 2021 |
| 38 | (+30) | Axar Patel | India | 469*! | 9.44 | 469 v Eng at Ahmedabad 2021 |
| 72 | (+16) | Joe Root | Eng | 241*! | 41.83 | 241 v India at Ahmedabad 2021 |
All-rounders (top five)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | Jason Holder | WI | 407 | 485 v Eng at Southampton 2020 |
| 2 | ( – ) | R Jadeja | India | 394 | 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017 |
| 3 | ( – ) | Ben Stokes | Eng | 384 | 497 v WI at Old Trafford 2020 |
| 4 | ( – ) | S Al Hasan | Ban | 352 | 489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017 |
| 5 | ( – ) | R Ashwin | India | 346 | 492 v Eng at Mohali 2016 |
* 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
For more information on player rankings, please click here.
