Bumrah, who is in the running for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year award, has moved up from his previous tied high of 904 with Ravichandran Ashwin

Jasprit Bumrah is the only reason why India still go into the Sydney Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy with a chance of levelling the series, and everybody in the world knows it.

With 30 wickets in the series at a remarkable average of 12.83, the pacer has kept Australia on the edge, and as a result of that performance he is not only the highest-ranked bowler in the ICC Test rankings but has also recorded the highest peak rating points ever achieved by an Indian bowler.

Bumrah, who is also in the running for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year award for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and also the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year award, has moved up from his previous tied high of 904 with Ravichandran Ashwin. His tally of 907 rating points — he is on top of the rankings released on Wednesday with Josh Hazlewood of Australia at 843 a distant second — now places him joint 17th in the all-time ratings list.

Ashwin had achieved the 904 rating in December 2016 after the fourth Test against England at Wankhede after picking up 24 wickets in his previous three Tests.

The peak ratings list is led by England seamers Sydney Barnes (932) and George Lohmann (931), who played more than a century ago, while Imran Khan (922) and Muttiah Muralitharan (920) are third and fourth.

The nine-wicket match haul at Melbourne also saw Bumrah become the only bowler in Test history with more than 200 wickets at an average under 20. That’s better than the great Malcolm Marshall (20.94), Joel Garner (20.97), Curtly Ambrose (20.99) and Fred Trueman (21.57).

Incidentally, the highest ever rating points achieved by an Indian batter is 937– by Virat Kohli after the Test against England at Southampton in 2018. He is 11th in the list of all-time highest rated batters.

While ratings form the basis of the ICC’s weekly rankings, plotting of week-on-week cumulative rating points also offer a clear insight on how a player’s career panned out over the years. The highest rating points achieved goes on to show where a particular player reached the peak of his career.

The ICC says its ratings “take account of the opposition strength; so there shouldn’t be any obvious advantage to playing against any particular team”. But the ratings are not really comparable over different eras. The reason for that is simple: how a player performs is linked to the quality of the opposition in any given era, so a rating of 900 during the time of the West Indies bowling greats may actually be at par with 950 at a time when such a bowling attack not in operation. Still, the ratings are a useful tool that tell you about a player’s consistency and impact on the sport at a given time.

“He (Bumrah) has been their most influential player and he’s made it difficult for us at times,” Australian skipper Pat Cummins said about Bumrah after the Melbourne Test. “He poses the biggest threat. Bumrah is still going to create a threat no matter where he enters the game. In Sydney, he’ll be a threat again, so we’re going to have to be able to combat that.”

To be sure, Cummins has a ratings peak of 914 — achieved after the 2019 Old Trafford Test against England — which places him fifth on the all-time list. He is currently third in the ranking with a rating of 837.

On the batting front, Kohli, who once ruled the rankings, has fallen to No 24 with a rating on 633. Rohit Sharma comes in at 40, with a rating of 560 (his best-ever rating was 813 after the Test against England at the Oval in 2021). Yashasvi Jaiswal is currently the top Indian batter in fourth place in the rankings at 854, which is also his peak rating.

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Only a few days back, Magnus Carlsen was disqualified from the Rapid event for refusing to change into formal trousers.

Magnus Carlsen, who shared the 2024 World Blitz Championship title in Wall Street, New York, on Wednesday along with Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, made another late entry on Monday when round 1 of the tournament began as he was buying a new pair of jeans.

Only a few days back, the world No. 1 was disqualified from the Rapid event for refusing to change into formal trousers. Carlsen was fined USD 200 for wearing jeans, which was “explicitly prohibited” under the original tournament regulations. He was also disqualified after he refused to change his attire by chief arbiter Alex Holowczak ahead of the ninth round.

However, on Monday, Carlsen returned to the World Blitz Chess Championship after FIDE’s decision to allow players to compete in jeans. Announcing the change in policy, FIDE boss Arkady Dvorkovich said “I took the decision to trial an approach to provide more flexibility to FIDE officials in judgements regarding the suitability of the attire.

“The principle is simple: it is still required to follow the official dress-code, but elegant minor deviations (that may, in particular, include appropriate jeans matching the jacket) are allowed,” Dvorkovich said in a statement on X.

However, in round 1 of the tournament against Michael Bezold, a 52-year-old German grandmaster, the five-time champion turned out late by a minute and 11 seconds for a three-minute game. Bezold, who was playing with white pieces, had already made his first move before Carlsen made his move with his one minute and 49 seconds left on the clock. The Norwegian eventually won.

“It feels good to be back,” Carlsen told the presenter after his win when asked if he was wearing a new pair of jeans. “Yes, a new one. I got them just for the game today, which is one of the reasons why I was late. But of course it’s my responsibility.”

Magnus Carlsen defends Blitz title
In an unprecedented result, Carlsen defended his title after he shared the Championship with Nepomniachtchi. he decision was made by both the players after three straight draws in the sudden death. Earlier, Carlsen kicked off the final on a winning note, winning back-to-back games, implying a draw could have sealed the title in his favour. But the Russian bounced back in style, winning next two games to force a tie-breaker.

Virat Kohli, a star India batter with a 316-run record at the MCG, was dismissed for five off 29 balls in the Boxing Day Test against Australia. This marks the fifth time Kohli has been caught behind in the series. India’s captain Kohli struggled to maintain composure in the first innings, causing India to fall to a 33/3 lead at lunch. Despite this, visitors Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal rallied for a draw.

India’s captain, Khanawaja, dismissed a player who had been a key player in their recent cricketing performance, stating that he had turned into a nicking machine. Kohli’s dismissal in 2024 marked his worst year in Test cricket, with an average of 24.52 runs from 19 innings. His previous best seasons were 202 runs in 2011, 2019, 2022, and 2020, but 2024 saw a significant drop in runs.

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