Sri Lanka batters Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis have benefitted hugely in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after both notched twin centuries in the first match of their ICC World Test Championship series against Bangladesh in Sylhet to help their side score a comprehensive 328-run victory.
De Silva has moved up 15 spots to a career-best 14th position while Mendis has re-entered the rankings in joint-64th position after recording only the third instance in Test history of two players from the same team scoring a century in each innings of a Test match.
The previous two instances were of Australia’s Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell against New Zealand in Wellington in 1974 and Pakistan’s Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014.
Sri Lanka’s new-ball bowlers Kasun Rajitha and Vishwa Fernando have also made notable gains in the latest weekly update to the men’s rankings. Rajitha has advanced six places to 38th position after returning match figures of eight for 112 while Fernando has moved from 50th to 43rd after finishing with seven for 84.
Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers bagged all 20 Bangladesh wickets as Lahiru Kumara also finished with five in the match, moving up six spots to 46th.
Bangladesh’s middle-order batter Mominul Haque’s second innings knock of 87 has lifted him eight places to 50th while new-ball bowler Khaled Ahmed’s four wickets in the match have taken him from 98th to 89th position.
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are placed joint-sixth in the ICC World Test Championships standings, having won one match each from three.
