Australia’s recent Test win over Bangladesh in the second Test at Chittagong couldn’t help them from slipping to the fifth spot in the ICC Test ranking. This fifth place is Australia’s lowest rank in 29 years. The Australia team entered the two match series at number four in the ranking. A series win would have kept them in the fourth spot, but a humiliating loss in the first Test meant that the Australian team would slip in the rankings. India leads the rankings and have a huge lead over other teams.
Australia is tied with 97 points with New Zealand but is fifth due to a decimal point. However, the Australian players have gained rankings after their performance in the second Test match. Nathan Lyon took 22 wickets in the two match Test series. He picked up 13 wickets alone in the second innings. This match winning performance took him to a career best eighth spot in the rankings, a nine spot jump. Lyon has also adjudged the man of the game in the second Test for his match winning performance.
Lyon partnered with David Warner to win the second Test for Australia and draw the series for the tourists. Warner scored a century in the second innings of the first Test (112) and another century in the first innings of the second Test (123). His patient knock took Australia past the Bangladeshi score in the first innings. These performances took him back to the fifth spot in the ICC Test rankings above Virat Kohli who is in the sixth spot.
Apart from it, their new middle order mainstay Peter Handscomb played a gutsy knock in the first innings of the second Test which meant he raised 15 spots to his career best ranking to 24. Glenn Maxwell also played a helping hand in the Test match taking him 16 spots higher to 88th place. Ashton Agar who was making a comeback to the Australian side jumped seven places to 77th in the rankings.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, gained five ranking points after a win the first Test but they remain ranked ninth in the team rankings.
TEAM RANKINGS:
| 1 | India | 36 | 4,493 | 125 |
| 2 | South Africa | 31 | 3,395 | 110 |
| 3 | England | 39 | 4,097 | 105 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 32 | 3,114 | 97 |
| 5 | Australia | 34 | 3,294 | 97 |
| 6 | Pakistan | 31 | 2,868 | 93 |
| 7 | Sri Lanka | 36 | 3,229 | 90 |
| 8 | West Indies | 26 | 1,940 | 75 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 20 | 1,471 | 74 |
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 10 | 0 | 0 |
TEST BATSMEN RANKINGS:
| 1 | Steve Smith | 936 | |
| 2 | Joe Root | ENG | 902 |
| 3 | Kane Williamson | NZ | 880 |
| 4 | Cheteshwar Pujara | IND | 876 |
| 5 | David Warner | AUS | 807 |
| 6 | Virat Kohli | IND | 806 |
| 7 | Azhar Ali | PAK | 769 |
| 8 | Alastair Cook | ENG | 765 |
| 9 | Hashim Amla | SA | 764 |
| 10 | Lokesh Rahul | IND | 761 |
TEST BOWLERS RANKINGS:
| 1 | Ravindra Jadeja | 884 | |
| 2 | James Anderson | ENG | 868 |
| 3 | Ravichandran Ashwin | IND | 852 |
| 4 | Rangana Herath | SL | 809 |
| 5 | Josh Hazlewood | AUS | 794 |
| 6 | Kagiso Rabada | SA | 785 |
| 7 | Dale Steyn | SA | 763 |
| 8 | Nathan Lyon | AUS | 752 |
| 9 | Vernon Philander | SA | 751 |
| 10 | Stuart Broad | ENG | 747 |