Kagiso Rabada Overtakes Jasprit Bumrah to Claim No.1 Bowler Spot

South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada has overtaken India's leading pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, from the top of the ICC Test rankings of bowlers. Rabada, who recently surpassed 300 Test wickets, overtook Bumrah and others in the rankings to become the top-ranked bowler in Tests for the first time since 2019. Rabada gave it his all in the opening Test match against Bangladesh, taking nine wickets to give the Proteas a resounding victory.

Rabada became the third-fastest Proteas bowler to reach the milestone in terms of matches played and the quickest in terms of ball bowled (11817) to do so with this spell, surpassing the 300 Test wickets. Rabada topped the ICC Test bowler's rankings in January 2018 and held the top spot until February 2019 before losing it.

Kagiso Rabada claims the throne:

Kagiso Rabada is now officially ranked as the ICC no. 1 Test bowler 🔥 pic.twitter.com/fePiWpB1PZ

— Werner (@Werries_) October 30, 2024

On a turning track, Bumrah was wicketless and did not contribute much in the second Test match against New Zealand. After Rabada and Josh Hazlewood of Australia, he has fallen to third place in the rankings. However, the recent success of Pakistan's spin sensations Noman Ali and Sajid Khan against England in the second and third Test matches has also helped them. Noman picked 11 and nine wickets in his two appearances. Sajid picked nine and 10 wickets in two Tests. As a result, Noman scored a career-high rating of ninth rank, however, Sajid surged 12 spots to reach the 38th spot.

Regarding the batters, despite his lacklustre showing against Pakistan in the second and third Tests, Joe Root is ranked first in the ICC ranking for Test batters. Rachin Ravindra, a young batsman from New Zealand, also made it into the top 10 after putting up strong performances against India in the opening two Tests of the current series.

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