Joe Root moves to second place while Haseeb Hameed makes a grand entry in the Test rankings

England batsman Joe Root and Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath have moved up to take the second positions among batsmen and bowlers, respectively, in the ICC Test Player Rankings after their fine performances in recent matches. Root’s knocks of 124 and four in the drawn opening match of a five-Test series against India in Rajkot helped him overtake New Zealand captain Kane Williamson in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen.

Root, who was top-ranked in August 2015 during a home series against Australia and again two months later during a series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, is three points ahead of Williamson at 844 points and 42 points adrift of Australia captain Steve Smith. Teenage debutant opener Haseeb Hameed also has made an impressive entry in the rankings list at 64th position after scoring 31 and 82 opening with Alastair Cook.

England captain Alastair Cook, who had scores of 21 and 130 in Rajkot, has moved up one slot to 10th rank and his team-mates Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes have made significant gains after slamming first-innings centuries in Rajkot. Ali has moved up six slots to reach 26th rank while Stokes has gained eight places to reach 32nd position.

Among the India batsmen, Cheteshwar Pujara has gained two places to reach 11th rank, captain Virat Kohli has moved up one place to 14th position and opener Murali Vijay has moved up two places to 23rd rank.

Also read – Haseeb Hameed breaks an 110-year-old record on debut against India

Sri Lanka batsman Dhananjaya de Silva (30th) and the Zimbabwe pair of Craig Ervine (56th) and Sean Williams (71st) have attained career-best rankings after their performances in the second and final Test between the two teams in Harare.

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, stand-in captain Herath’s match haul of 13-152 in Harare that helped Sri Lanka complete a 2-0 series win, have lifted him ahead of pace bowlers Dale Steyn of South Africa and James Anderson of England.

The left arm spinner has reached number two rank in the past – in November 2012 and August 2014 – but now enjoys a career-best rating of 867 points and is only 14 points behind India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Another spinner to move up the rankings is England leg-spinner Adil Rashid who has gained 17 places to reach 61st position after taking seven wickets in Rajkot. England’s Ben Stokes has reached a career-best third-ranking among all-rounders but is 56 points behind second-paced Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh and 106 behind Ashwin.

Check out – Latest Test player rankings here

Check out – Latest Test team rankings here