ICC Test Batting Rankings Update: Joe Root Enters All Time Top 20 With New Career Best

Root enters all-time top 20 after Multan marathon

England beat Pakistan by an innings in the first Test between the sides in Multan, scoring 823-7 in their only batting innings, the fourth-highest Test score ever. The total was built on magnificent innings from Harry Brook and Joe Root, who both registered career-best Test scores of 317 and 262 respectively.

Root was already the No.1-ranked Test batter in the world, and received a ratings boost from 899 to 932 in the latest update to the rankings. This is a career high for him, and means he has now broken into the top 20-highest ratings of all time. He is currently 17th on that list, with Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf ahead of him by just one rating point. This year, Root is also chasing down a record that Yousuf has held since 2006.

Read more: Full list: Kamran Ghulam becomes 13th Pakistan player to score a hundred on Test debut

Unsurprisingly, Don Bradman has the highest batting rating of all time, with 961, achieved in February 1948. Compatriot Steve Smith is second, after he was rated at 947 in December 2017 and England's Len Hutton is third, with 945 achieved in April 1954.

Since Root's Test debut in 2012, only Smith, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Marnus Labuschagne have achieved higher ratings than him.

Harry Brook soars to No.2 among Test batters

Brook's triple century in Multan did not come without reward, either. The 25-year-old shot up eleven spots into joint-second place for current Test batters, behind Root and level with New Zealand's Kane Williamson. It is his best ranking, and his current rating of 829 is also a career-best.

Pakistan's Salman Ali Agha also moved up 11 spots from 33rd to 22nd, following his efforts of 104* & 63 against England in Multan. Root also nudged up one spot on the Test all-rounder rankings, from 4th to 3rd. Shaheen Afridi fell four spots in the bowling rankings, allowing Australia's Mitchell Starc to move into the top 10.

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