Sri Lankan batsman Dimuth Karunaratne and West Indies allrounder Jason Holder have both gained big in the International Cricket Council(ICC) Test Players Rankings for their exceptional performances in their respective Test matches against South Africa and Bangladesh recently. 

Basics of playing spin bowling, it is a study that most modern-day batsmen seem to have forgotten but not the classical and old school Karunaratne. He used his feet to negate the spin from the surface and waited for the short one to arrive before playing it off the back foot, the sweep was plan B for Karunaratne, not his main shot.

There was plenty of turn and variable bounce but his brave effort paid off huge dividends, as Karunaratne did a masterclass on how to dig in against the odds and amassed 158 in the first innings and 60 in the second to help Sri Lanka recover and eventually win the game by a huge margin of 278 runs. 

For the first time in his career, the 30-year-old Karunaratne has broken into the top-10 of the ICC rankings as he climbed 21 spots to claim the 10th spot in the table.

While Jason Holder admirably led the West Indies to a 2-0 Test series win over Bangladesh and made a significant contribution by taking 11 wickets in the game which the home side won by 166 runs. Holder picked up 5-44 and 6-59 in the two innings at Sabina Park and has moved up to a career-high 13th spot in the bowlers’ rankings. The West Indies skipper also gained one spot in the all-rounders’ ranking to move up to the fifth spot in the table.

(Inputs from Sport 360)