Rahmat Shah becomes the first Afghan batter to enter top 10 of ICC Test rankings

Afghanistan ODI and Test captain Rahmat Shah created history by becoming the first male player from the country to break into the ICC top-10 Test batting rankings—a historic first across any format for Afghanistan. The right-handed batter jumped six places to sit in the seventh spot, ahead of star Indian batters, Rishabh Pant (8) and Shubman Gill (10), who dropped one place each. His 735 rating points are also the highest an Afghan batter has ever acquired.

He scored a brilliant 173 against Zimbabwe in the first Test in Sharjah, with the record-breaking fixture ending in a draw. It was also his fifth Test hundred and second this year.

Earlier this month, Afghanistan reached a new high of sixth in the ODI rankings following an ODI tri-series win over Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. They sit above ODI heavyweights including Sri Lanka (7), England (8), Bangladesh (9) and the West Indies (10), with Zimbabwe, Scotland and Ireland following at 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively.

Besides Rahmat, Zimbabwean veteran Craig Ervine also jumped nine places to 48th among Test batters following his record-breaking 206 in the series opener against Afghanistan.

Elsewhere, West Indian spinner Jomel Warrican, who picked up 16 wickets in two Tests against Bangladesh, achieved his career-best rating after moving 11 places to joint 19th among Test bowlers. Meanwhile, Towhid Hridoy, who registered the highest individual Test score by a Bangladeshi batter (242*), broke into the top 100 (60th) for the first time.

Indian Bowlers Climb Ladder

While left-arm spinner Axar Patel jumped 21 places to sit at 23 in the updated all-rounders’ rankings following his 2/28 against New Zealand in the 2nd ODI, Arshdeep Singh moved up 11 places to joint 31st after his match-winning four-for in the series opener in Auckland.

Gurnoor Brar, India’s top wicket-taker so far in the New Zealand ODIs, with seven scalps in two outings, jumped the most among the Indian bowlers. Once placed outside the top 100, the lanky Punjab quick is now 48th in the ODI rankings for bowlers.