Proteas captain Temba Bavuma soars to career-best ICC Test ranking after Kolkata heroics
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Proteas Test captain Temba Bavuma raises his bat during his unbeaten 55 that set up his team's victory over India in the first Test at Eden Gardens.
Image: Picture: AFP
Proteas captain Temba Bavuma’s heroics at Eden Gardens has catapulted him to a career-best fifth position on the ICC Test batting rankings.
Bavuma scored an unbeaten 55 in the second innings of the low-scoring Kolkata Test that his team won by 30 runs to go 1-0 up in the two-match ICC World Test Championship series.
The 35-year-old moved up two places from his previous seventh position, displacing India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 12 and 0 at Eden Gardens.
England duo Joe Root and Harry Brook top the ICC batters rankings in first and second place respectively with New Zealand’s Kane Williamson in third and Australia’s Steve Smith in fourth.
Root, Brook and Smith will all be in action in the first Ashes Test that gets underway in Perth on Friday.
Proteas’ Eden Gardens spin hero Simon Harmer has also soared up the ICC Test bowler rankings. The off-spinner claimed 4/30 and 4/21 for a match haul of 8/51 in Kolkata.
This has lifted him 20 slots to a career-best 24th position, while India spinners Kuldeep Yadav (up two places to a career-best 13th position) and Ravindra Jadeja (up four places to 15th) have also moved up the bowling list.
India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah remains in the top spot on the ICC Test bowler rankings after his 5/27 and 1/24 in the first Test against the World Test Champions.
The Proteas’ highest ranked bowler in Kagiso Rabada in joint fifth position. Rabada unfortunately missed the Eden Gardens Test due to a rib injury.