England's Joe Root has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings after a stellar performance in the third and final match of the ICC World Test Championship series against the West Indies. Root's knock of 87 in the first innings at Birmingham helped his side secure a 10-wicket victory, completing a 3-0 series sweep. This marks Root’s ninth stint as the world’s top Test batsman, a position he first held in August 2015. He last occupied the No. 1 spot in June 2023 after a strong showing in the opening match of the Ashes series, also in Birmingham.
Root's rise to the top sees him overtake New Zealand's Kane Williamson, while Babar Azam, Daryl Mitchell, Steve Smith, and Rohit Sharma have all gained a spot each in the latest rankings. England’s Harry Brook, who reached a career-best third position last week, has slipped to seventh.
In the weekly update, which also reflects performances from the Ireland-Zimbabwe Test in Belfast, England captain Ben Stokes has climbed four positions to 30th in the batting rankings following scores of 54 and an unbeaten 57 off 28 balls in Birmingham. Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams re-entered the rankings at 33rd, England’s Jamie Smith jumped 31 places to 64th, and West Indies’ Kavem Hodge moved up three places to 72nd.
On the bowling side, England’s Mark Wood has entered the top 20 for the first time, following a Player of the Match performance with figures of 2 for 52 and 5 for 40. West Indies’ Jayden Seales climbed seven spots to a career-best 26th position, England’s Gus Atkinson rose four places to 46th, Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani re-entered the rankings at 50th, and Ireland’s Mark Adair moved up three places to 63rd.
In the Men’s T20I Rankings, India's Yashasvi Jaiswal has broken into the top five, now ranked fourth after scoring 80 runs in India’s 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka. Shubman Gill made a significant leap, rising 16 places to a career-best 21st position. Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera also made notable gains, moving up to 15th and joint-63rd, respectively.
India's Ravi Bishnoi re-entered the top 10 in the T20I bowling rankings, while Arshdeep Singh and Washington Sundar climbed to 19th and 40th positions, respectively.
In the ODI Rankings, Oman’s Aqib Ilyas moved up five places to 58th among batters, and Kaleemullah climbed 11 places to 50th among bowlers. Scotland’s Richard Berrington also advanced, rising seven places to 59th after strong performances in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2.
