Rahmat Shah Overtakes Gill; Gurnoor, Axar, Arshdeep Earn Big In Latest ICC Rankings

Soumyajit Dutta

Gurnoor Brar and Rahmat Shah [Source: AFP]

In a historic first, Rahmat Shah, the 33-year-old Afghan batter, became the first player from Afghanistan to reach the top 10 in any category of the ICC Test rankings.

Rahmat reached the 7th position in the Men’s Test batting rankings after the November update and jumped up by six positions to overtake players like Shubman Gill and Aiden Markram. Meanwhile, India bowlers Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel and Gurnoor Brar also bagged massive jumps amid the ongoing New Zealand ODI series.

Rahmat Shah creates history with ICC Test batting rankings

Notably, after the Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe Test series performance, Rahmat Shah left behind the likes of India captain Shubman Gill, South Africa opener Aiden Markram and Sri Lanka left-hander Kamindu Mendis and earned a spot inside the top 10 for the very first time.

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The 135-ODI veteran has played 14 Test matches since his debut in 2018 and bagged over 1300 runs and five centuries to slowly move his way to the top in the rankings. He currently has 735 rating points from the ICC and stands at the 7th position behind New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra, Australia’s Steve Smith and others.

The current No. 1-ranked Test batter in the world is, however, England captain Harry Brook, who has 861 ICC rating points in his bag.

Position	TEAM	Player	Rating
1	England	Harry Brook	861
2	England	Joe Root	816
3	Australia	Travis Head	799
4	South Africa	Temba Bavuma	793
5	Australia	Steve Smith	790
6	New Zealand	Rachin Ravindra	740
7	Afghanistan	Rahmat Shah	735
8	India	Rishabh Pant	713
9	New Zealand	Daryl Mitchell	710
10	India	Shubman Gill	709

Speaking of Afghanistan, another batter, Ibrahim Zadran, however, has been demoted by 3 positions to rank at 65 after his performance against Zimbabwe at Harare back in 2025.

Rahmat’s rise in the rankings came straight into effect after the cricketer slammed a captain’s knock in the UAE against Zimbabwe. He slammed his career-high 173 runs in the 1st Test from 347 balls following his captaincy appointment.

India's bowling trio gain massive in ICC ODI rankings

In another update, the first two matches of the ongoing ODI series between India and New Zealand have brought noticeable changes to the ICC men's ODI bowling rankings, with three Indian bowlers making significant progress. With the 2027 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup approaching, the latest update offers encouraging signs for India's bowling attack.

Axar Patel has been among the biggest gainers, climbing 23 places to secure the 21st position in the ODI bowling rankings. The left-arm spinner earned the rise after delivering an impressive spell of 2/28 in the second ODI in Wellington.

Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh has also moved up the rankings following his match-winning performance in the series opener in Auckland. The left-arm pacer has gained 11 places to reach a joint 31st position after picking up four wickets.

Gurnoor Brar has made an even bigger jump on the list. The right-arm pacer, who leads the ongoing series' wicket-taking charts with seven scalps, has broken into the top 50, rising from outside the top 100 to claim the 48th position.