Najmul Hossain Shanto has reached a career best in the latest ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings after leading Bangladesh to a famous win over Pakistan in Mirpur.
The Bangladesh captain climbed 16 places to joint-23rd after scores of 101 and 87 in the first Test. His match winning effort also earned him the Player of the Match award.
Shanto’s century was his fifth in Tests as captain. That gave him the Bangladesh record for most Test hundreds as captain. He went past Mushfiqur Rahim, who had four.
Mushfiq also made progress in the rankings after scores of 71 and 22. The former captain moved up two spots to 26th.
Mominul Haque enjoyed a big rise too. His scores of 91 and 56 lifted him 12 places to 35th.
Pakistan also had some positives despite the defeat.
Debutants Abdullah Fazal and Azan Awais entered the rankings for the first time. Fazal is now 75th after his first innings century. Azan sits 82nd after scoring fifties in both innings.
In the bowling rankings, Taijul Islam moved from 16th to 13th after taking two wickets in each innings.
Fast bowler Nahid Rana also made strong gains. His brilliant five for 40 in the second innings pushed him up five places to 64th.
For Pakistan, Mohammad Abbas returned to the rankings at 28th after his first innings five for 92.
Bangladesh’s 104 run win also improved their position in the ICC World Test Championship table.
Bangladesh moved above Pakistan into sixth place with 44.44 percentage points. They now have one win, one draw and one loss.
Pakistan dropped below them after losing two of their first three matches. They had earlier drawn their series 1-1 against South Africa.
