Pat Cummins becomes 1st Aussie after McGrath to top ICC Test Bowling charts

Dubai: Australia pace bowler Pat Cummins grabbed the top spot of ICC Test Rankings for bowlers. He became only the second Australian bowler after legendary medium pacer Glenn McGrath, who ranked number one Test bowler in 2006, in the last one decade to occupy the numero uno position of Test bowling rankings.

The right-arm fast bowler jumped two spots to oust South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada after the Proteas coped with a shocking one-wicket loss against minnows Sri Lanka in the first Test in Durban.

Meanwhile, England swing king James Anderson saw him rising in the rankings chart as he moved up two places and well settled at the second position. At the same time, Rabada slipped to the third position.

Barring these major changes in the top three positions of bowling rankings, there were no other changes.

Earlier this week, Cummins conferred with the Allan Border Medal for his phenomenal performances with the ball across the formats. The 25-year-old pacer has picked up 44 wickets in all formats of the game between January 9, 2018 and January 7, 2019.

Cummins made his Test debut at the age of 18 when he claimed a match-winning seven-wicket haul against South Africa in Johannesburg. However, chronic injuries forced the cricketer to wait for another five years to make a comeback in Test cricket.

Meanwhile, in the batting department, Indian skipper Virat Kohli reinstated the top spot. Kusal Perera, who smashed a match-winning 153 against South Africa on Saturday, also saw him moving up in the batting rankings. The batsman moved 58 places above and is now ranked 40.