Dubai: The latest ICC Men’s Player Rankings, released on Wednesday, have produced a major shake-up at the top of two charts — with South Africa’s Marco Jansen climbing to No. 1 in both Test bowling and Test all-rounder rankings, and India’s Abhishek Sharma returning to the summit of the T20I batting list.
Jansen, 26, earns the top billing in two categories for the first time in his career on the back of a standout performance in South Africa’s innings-and-31-run victory over Australia in the second Test at Gqeberha. The left-arm fast bowler scored 85 from No. 8 to rescue the Proteas from 110/6, then took a match-turning 5/33 to skittle Australia for 99 in their first innings, adding 1/34 in the second.
The rise moves Jansen up five places to overtake Mitchell Starc at the top of the Test bowling chart with 876 rating points, with Matt Henry, Ollie Robinson and Jasprit Bumrah each slipping one spot. In the all-rounder rankings, Jansen moves up one place to 451 points, displacing Ravindra Jadeja — who had held the No. 1 position for more than four years. Jansen also climbed 13 places to 56th among Test batters, completing a clean sweep of gains across all three disciplines.
The milestones keep coming for the tall left-armer. During the ongoing third Test at Newlands in Cape Town, Jansen reached 100 Test wickets — dismissing Matt Renshaw in the 50th over of Australia’s first innings, then removing Cameron Green in his next over — becoming the 18th South African bowler to reach the landmark and the joint-fourth fastest for his country in terms of matches played (24 Tests, level with Peter Pollock). Vernon Philander holds the South African record at 19 Tests, with Dale Steyn next at 20.
Jansen is the first South African to top the Test bowling rankings since Kagiso Rabada in November 2024, and the first South African top-ranked Test all-rounder since Vernon Philander in August 2014. Former fast bowler Dale Steyn recently described him as “the best cricketer in the world” — and on current form, that claim is getting harder to argue with.
There was more South African joy in the batting chart, where captain Temba Bavuma jumped four places to a career-best second after his Player of the Match 179 in Gqeberha. Bavuma now trails only England’s Harry Brook, and if he overtakes him, he would become the first South African batter to lead the Test rankings since AB de Villiers in November 2015.
India’s headline in the update belongs to Abhishek Sharma. The left-hander reclaimed the No. 1 T20I batting spot after his explosive century against New Zealand in Wellington — 113 off just 38 balls, reaching his hundred in 35 deliveries — as India chased down 199 to clinch the five-match series 3-0. The innings was enough to displace teammate Ishan Kishan, who had taken the top spot from Abhishek in July this year after some strong performances in Ireland. Abhishek had first ascended to No. 1 back in July 2025, when he overtook Australia’s Travis Head.
The rankings could yet move again quickly: Starc’s six-wicket haul in the ongoing Newlands Test means the gap at the top of the bowling chart may narrow further before the next update.
