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Warrican headlines Windies players climbing ICC Test Rankings
Written by Sports Desk. Posted in Windies. | 29 January 2025 | 892 Views
Tags: Jomel Warrican, Kraigg Brathwaite, West Indies

West Indies left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican has made a significant leap in the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings, as he leads a group of Caribbean players who have inched up the charts after their performances in the recent Test series against Pakistan.

Warrican, who was named Player of the Match for his remarkable nine-wicket haul in the second Test in Multan, has surged 16 places to 25th in the rankings. His stellar series, which saw him claim 19 wickets, also earned him the Player of the Series award and a total jump of 28 spots across the two matches.

Fellow West Indian pacer Kemar Roach has also improved, moving up one place to 18th, while left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie climbed six places to 58th.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Noman Ali made history by becoming the first spinner from his country to take a Test hat-trick in a match haul of 10 for 121, pushing him up four spots to a career-best fifth position with 806 rating points. He is now the only Pakistani bowler in the top 20 of the rankings. Teammates Sajid Khan (up two places to 21st) and Abrar Ahmed (up two places to 50th) have also made gains.

On the batting front, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite has also benefitted from his second-innings half-century in the Windies' 120-run victory, moving up eight places to 44th. On the Pakistan side, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has edged closer to the top 10, climbing from 17th to 15th.

Meanwhile, In the Men’s T20I Rankings, England’s leg-spinner Adil Rashid has reclaimed the number one spot in the T20I Bowling Rankings, ending Akeal Hosein’s 44-day reign at the top. Rashid’s economical spells of 1 for 14 and 1 for 15 in the second and third matches of the series helped England close the gap to 2-1 in the series.

This marks the second time Rashid has led the rankings, having previously held the top spot for a year between December 2023 and December 2024.

India's Tilak Varma has surged to a career-best second position after an unbeaten 71 in the second T20I against England. His 832 rating points are the fourth-highest by an Indian batter in the format, trailing only Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul.

At just 22 years and 82 days old, Varma is only 23 rating points behind top-ranked Travis Head, giving him a strong chance of becoming the youngest player ever to top the T20I batting rankings. The current record is held by Babar Azam, who was 23 years and 105 days old when he first claimed the No. 1 spot in January 2018.

Other notable movers include Liam Livingstone (up five places to 32nd) and Abhishek Sharma (up 59 places to 40th) among batters, while in the bowling rankings, Varun Chakravarthy (up 25 places to a career-best fifth), Jofra Archer (up 13 places to sixth), Axar Patel (up five places to 11th), and Hardik Pandya (up eight places to 43rd) have all gained ground.