Rabada, de Kock reach career-high rankings

Rabada, de Kock reach career-high rankings

Kagiso Rabada's match-winning 10-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in the second Test in Cape Town helped the South African pacer achieve career-best position in International Cricket Council's rankings for bowlers in Tests. The 21-year old finished with figures of 10 for 92 to move nine spots and reach eighth position.

Josh Hazlewood, who finished with match figures of seven for 94, also moved two places to third spot, behind Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the rankings. Rangana Herath and Dale Steyn have dropped a position each to No. 4 and 5 respectively.

The English new-ball pair James Anderon and Stuart Broad occupy the next two positions on the table, while Vernon Philander and Mitchell Starc complete the top 10.

Among the other bowlers, Wahab Riaz's four wickets in the Sydney Test helped him enter the top-20 for the first time. Suranga Lakmal (30) and Lahiru Kumara (67) also attained their career-high rankings, courtesy their good show in the Cape Town Test.

On the batting front, Steve Smith continues to occupy the top spot in the ICC Test Rankings for batsmen, followed by Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Kane Williamson. Younis Khan's unbeaten 175 helped the veteran Pakistan batsman jump seven spots to reach the seventh position.

South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock's century in Cape Town helped him leapfrog AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla to career-best No. 8 on the points table. Similarly, Dean Elgar's superb century in the same Test helped him also to move to his career-best ranking of 21.

The Australian duo of Usman Khawaja (11) and Peter Handscomb (37) have also attained their highest ranking following a splendid run of scores in the recently-concluded three-match Test series against Pakistan. While Khawaja notched up 267 runs at an average of 66.75, Handscomb scored 344 runs at 86. While Khawaja's 13 and 79* in the Sydney Test helped him move up a couple of places, Handscomb's 110 and 40 helped him gain 17 spots.

In the team's list, India continues to head the rankings in Tests, followed by Australia, South Africa, England and Pakistan.