The International Cricket Council on March 16 made the latest update to its Test rankings for men’s, enabling significant jumps in bowling and batting categories for Jasprit Bumrah and Dimuth Karunaratne, respectively. The duo jumped up the world cricket ladder after their eye-catching performances in the second and final India-Sri Lanka Test in Bangalore.
Bumrah, India’s ace quick, made a leap of six spots to become the No.4 Test bowler in world cricket after his match haul of eight wickets in the pink-ball D/N fixture, including his magnificent five-fer (5/24) in the first-innings of the Test.
The 28-year-old made excellent use of the ever-glossier pink ball and swung it under lights past the hapless Sri Lankan batters on his way to a major jump in the ICC Test rankings.
Bumrah went past notable names such as Shaheen Afridi, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, James Anderson, Neil Wagner and Josh Hazlewood and joined an elite list featuring Pat Cummins, Ravichandran Ashwin and Kagiso Rabada as the top three ranked bowlers in world cricket.
Once Bumrah, along with Ashwin and Jadeja, got into the act, the Sri Lankan demise was set in stone in the Bangalore Test as the visitors suffered another heavy three-day loss to finish with a 2-0 series whitewash. A talented but in-transition Sri Lankan side failed to withstand the mighty Indians, who have not lost a home series since November 2012.
Amidst their misery, however, Sri Lanka’s captain Karunaratne emerged as his team’s lone warrior, especially in the final innings of the series, where he recorded inarguably one of the toughest hundreds made by a touring batter on Indian shores. Facing an unrelenting attack on a tricky pitch, Karunaratne made 107 off 174 deliveries, including 15 fours.
Looking largely untroubled despite the quality of the Indian bowling, Karunaratne’s century singlehandedly led Sri Lanka’s fight and also allowed him to jump up the Test rankings for batters. Karunaratne has made a three-spot jump to gain his career-best No.5 rank in the world batting charts.
India’s 2-0 series continued their home dominance and also gave them 24 much-needed points in the new cycle of the World Test Championship.
