Pakistan spinner Noman Ali has climbed to a career-best second position in the latest ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings, following his exceptional performance in the first Test against South Africa in Lahore.
Noman Ali Elite List with Over 850 Rating Points
The left-arm spinner jumped four spots after claiming six for 112 and four for 79, guiding Pakistan to a 93-run victory and a 1-0 lead in the two-match ICC World Test Championship series. Noman now stands just 29 rating points behind India’s top-ranked Jasprit Bumrah.
“𝑵𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏’𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝑷𝑪𝑩 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍. “𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅.”
With 853 rating points, Noman becomes only the seventh Pakistani bowler to surpass the 850-point mark, and the first since Yasir Shah achieved the feat in July 2016. His previous best ranking was fifth, reached in January earlier this year against the West Indies when he had 806 rating points.
Shaheen, Rizwan, and Babar Also Climb Up in Rankings
Pakistan’s pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi also made significant strides, moving up three places to 19th position after picking four wickets for 33 runs in the second innings.
In the batting department, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam continued their steady rise — Rizwan moved up four places to 16th, while Babar climbed two spots to 22nd. Salman Agha jumped eight positions to 30th, and Imam-ul-Haq re-entered the rankings at 44th.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏’𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔,” 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍-𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔.
South African and Other Global Movements
For South Africa, Ryan Rickelton entered the top 50 after scoring 71 runs in the first innings, while Tony de Zorzi’s century propelled him to 54th place. Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy, who recorded a match haul of 11 for 174, advanced from 93rd to 55th — the best figures by a South African bowler in Pakistan.
In the ODI rankings, Bangladesh’s Towhid Hridoy rose seven places to 35th, while Australia’s Josh Hazlewood re-entered the top 10 after taking 2 for 20 against India in Perth. India’s Mohammad Siraj also returned to the list at 16th, with K. L. Rahul moving up one spot to 14th.
Meanwhile, in the T20I rankings, England batters Phil Salt and Harry Brook impressed during their series in New Zealand. Salt’s knock of 85 kept him second, while Brook’s explosive 78 off 35 balls lifted him to joint-20th with a career-best 598 points.
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