ICC Test Rankings: Yasir Shah second best bowler, Root back at number one

ICC Test Rankings: Yasir Shah second best bowler, Root back at number one: Courtsey fighting half-centuries in the recently concluded Dubai Test, England middle order batsman Joe Root has reclaimed the number one spot in the ICC Test batsmen rankings. In another big shuffle, Yasir Shah has become the second highest-ranked bowler in the world behind Dale Steyn who has been at the top since 2009.

Root scored 88 and 71 in the Dubai Test, which has helped him reclaim the top spot from Australia captain Steven Smith. The free stroking England superstar entered the Test trailing Smith by 13 points, but now leads the Australian by three points. This means the Yorkshire batsman will have to perform strongly in the third Test, starting in Sharjah from Sunday, to retain the position he first achieved following the Trent Bridge Test against Australia in August.

Younis Khan, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq have also reaped the rewards of good performances in the Dubai Test, which went down to the wire only for Pakistan to come out trumps. Younis has returned to the top five in fifth position following knocks of 56 and 118, Misbah has moved up five places to 11^th following his scores of 102 and 87, and Asad Shafiq has achieved a career-high ranking of 12 after he scored 83 and 87.

The second Test was also a memorable one for Pakistan’s leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who has achieved the number-two ranking for the first time in his career. Yasir picked up eight for 180 in Pakistan’s 178 runs victory, which has earned him 25 points. This resulted in him moving ahead of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad and New Zealand’s pace ace Trent Boult. Given that Yasir is still in the qualification period for bowlers, it is likely that he will be able to further reduce the 78-point gap with world number one, Dale Steyn if he puts up another solid show in the Sharjah Test.

In the team rankings Pakistan has given itself an excellent opportunity to claim second position. However, to make this happen, it will have to win the Sharjah Test. In this scenario, Pakistan will join Australia on 106 points but will be ranked above them when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point. If England draws level, then both the sides will retain their pre-series rankings and points. In the case of a draw, England will drop to fifth to push both Pakistan and India one place up.

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