ROSHEN SILVA BREAKS INTO THE TOP 50 BATSMEN

Roshen Silva has continued to rise in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen following a player of the match performance against Bangladesh in the Mirpur Test, which Sri Lanka won by 215 runs to take the series 1-0 on Saturday.

Silva scored 56 and 70 not out on a pitch on which 40 wickets fell for 681 runs inside three days. For this performance, the 29-year-old has been rewarded with a jump of 29 places, which has put him inside the top-50 batsmen in 49th spot for first time in his career.

Silva had scored 109 in the first Test, which had lifted him from 106th position to 78th rankings. The rise in the latest batsmen’s rankings has made Silva the seventh highest-ranked Sri Lanka batsman after Dinesh Chandimal 12th (down by three places), Kusal Mendis 21st (up by two places), Angelo Mathews (24th), Dimuth Karunaratne 32nd (down by four places), Dhananjaya de Silva (38th) and Niroshan Dickwella 45th (down by four places).

Bangladesh’s batting failure in the Mirpur Test is also reflected in the latest rankings.

Shakib, who missed the Test due to an injury, has stayed in 22nd spot but Tamim Iqbal has fallen five places to 26th, Mushfiqur Rahim has dropped three places to 28th, Mominul Haque has slipped three places to 30th, Mahmudullah has plummeted six places to 54th and Sabbir Rahman has tumbled 17 places to 104th.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Akila Dananjaya has made an impressive entry following his three for 20 and five for 24. The off-spinner has entered in 58th position, while fast bowler Suranga Lakmal, who took three for 25 in the first innings, has moved up three places to 30th position.

Rangana Herath, who became the first left-arm spinner to take 400 Test wickets during the match, has remained his country’s highest-ranked bowler despite slipping one place to eight following his four wickets in Mirpur.