Joe Root has slipped back into top spot on the ICC men’s Test batting chart after his Lord’s hundred steered England past India by 22 runs. A tidy 104 in the first dig, followed by 40 in the second, was enough to edge him back above Harry Brook, who managed 11 and 23 in the same match.
“The main thing is we won the game; the rankings take care of themselves,” Root said during the post-match presentation, sounding typically unruffled.
Brook’s quiet outing sees him drop to third, with New Zealand’s Kane Williamson sliding into second. India captain Shubman Gill, out for 27 and 18 at Lord’s, slips three places to ninth. Rishabh Pant’s breezy 74 could not stop him sliding one position to eighth.
KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, the two Indian bright spots, rise five places apiece to 34th and 35th. Jadeja’s unbeaten 61 in the chase almost pinched it, yet England held on. “We were one partnership away,” Jadeja admitted to the host broadcaster.
Across the Atlantic, Australia’s day-night Test in Kingston produced the week’s biggest bowling tremor. Scott Boland’s six wickets, including a second-innings hat-trick, lift him six rungs to sixth. “He just keeps hitting the seam,” former quick Jason Gillespie told SEN Radio. “Simple plan, horrible to face.”
Jasprit Bumrah remains the No.1 bowler after his five-for at Lord’s. Mitchell Starc’s extraordinary 6 for 9, part of West Indies’ collapse to 27 all out, keeps him 10th on the bowling list but nudges him to eighth among all-rounders. Jadeja still tops that particular table.
Steven Smith’s patient 48 in Kingston pushes him past Yashasvi Jaiswal into fourth among batters. By Jaiswal’s high standards, returns of 13 and 0 at Lord’s felt subdued—his first Test against England without a fifty.
Latest ICC Test rankings
Batting (top five): 1 Root, 2 Williamson, 3 Brook, 4 Smith, 5 Jaiswal
Bowling (top five): 1 Bumrah, 2 R. Hazlewood, 3 R. Ashwin, 4 Shaheen Afridi, 5 Kagiso Rabada
All-rounders (top three): 1 Jadeja, 2 Ashwin, 3 Stokes
The next update arrives after the Headingley and Port-of-Spain Tests later this month.
