Usman Khawaja enters top 10 after heroic Dubai resistance

Usman Khawaja’s heroics against Pakistan helped him jump nine spots to No.10 in the latest update to the Test player rankings for batsmen.

Khawaja was colossal in the first Test, played in Dubai. He top-scored for Australia in the first innings with 85, scored in over four hours, and then – with his team staring at defeat – led a stunning resistance on the final day, with an innings of 141, scored in close to nine hours.

That helped him move up past Aiden Markram to the 10th spot in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings. His points tally – 719 – was, however, below his career best of 747, achieved in 2017.

There were no changes above him, with Virat Kohli’s 139 in the first Test against the Windies keeping him firm at No.1 with 936 points – one off his career-high of 937. Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root and David Warner round off the top five.

Following the completion of the two Tests – India v Windies in Rajkot and Pakistan v Australia in Dubai – there were many other movers among the batsmen.

In Dubai, Asad Shafiq’s 80 and 41 took him up five points and to No.20, while Mohammad Hafeez, who scored 126 in the first innings, re-entered the list at No.45. Tim Paine, the Australian captain who scored 61* to help draw the Dubai Test, entered the top 50 at No.49 with a career-high 524 points.

Slightly lower down, Haris Sohail’s first Test century took him to the 57th spot (up 17), while two of the three Australian debutants also had good returns: Aaron Finch hit 62 and 49, and entered the list at No.72 and Travis Head’s second-innings 72 took him to the 103rd position.

Across in Rajkot, the hero for India was Prithvi Shaw, the debutant scoring 134 opening the innings. He entered the chart at No.73, one spot below Finch. Ravindra Jadeja also made a stirring comeback to the Test XI, hitting 100* in India’s only innings. He was up six spots to No.51 with a career-best 511 points.

On to the bowlers now, and two Pakistani bowlers made significant gains. Mohammad Abbas returned 4/29 and 3/56, and was joint 13th with Jason Holder after rising eight spots. Bilal Asif, the debutant, got 6/36 in the Australian first innings, and entered the chart at No.69.

The big mover for the Indians was Kuldeep Yadav, the young left-arm wrist-spinner gaining 16 spots to get to the 52nd position after picking up his first five-wicket haul in Tests – 5/57 in the Windies second innings.