The list is led by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson with 919 points, followed by Steve Smith with 891 points. India captain Virat Kohli held his fifth spot with 814 points.
Karunaratne, due to his staggering performances in the Bangladesh series, achieved the feat and is now the top-ranked Sri Lankan player in the ICC rankings. The next player on the list after him is Angelo Mathews at the 24th position.
The Sri Lankan captain scored 244 runs in the first Test, followed by 118 and 66 in the second game and was also adjudged the “Player of the Series”. His career-best is the sixth position, which he attained in August 2019.
? 428 runs at 142.66
Two hundreds, one fifty
? Crossed 5000 runs in Tests
? Player of the Series
What a fantastic #SLvBAN series Dimuth Karunaratne had! pic.twitter.com/uSUBFfXTQA
— ICC (@ICC) May 4, 2021
The other Sri Lankan players to move up in the rankings are Niroshan Dickwella (31st ), Oshada Fernando (58th) and Lahiru Thirimanne (60th). The debutant, Praveen Jayawickrama also entered the list and is at the 48th position.
Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal gained three places to reach the 27th position. He scored 90 and 74 not out in the series opener. In the second test, he scored 92 and 24, respectively. His teammate Mushfiqur Rahim and captain Mominul Haque have also moved one position each to the 21st and 30th slot.
Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali also moved 15 positions to career-best 20th.. His performance of nine for 89 in the first Test against Zimbabwe helped him gain points. Shaheen Afridi, and Nauman Ali, also moved to 31st and 54th position in the rankings.
Fawad Alam, continuing his great run, has reached a career-best ranking of 47 among the batsmen.
Regis Chakabva, the right-handed wicket-keeper batsman for Zimbabwe, gained two slots to reach the 97th position. His teammate, Blessing Muzarabani, advanced to get the 55th position among the bowlers.
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