De Silva, Mendis Soar in Rankings Following Twin Tons in Sylhet
Sri Lankan cricketers Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis have made significant strides in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings. This comes after both players scored twin centuries in the first match of their ICC World Test Championship series against Bangladesh in Sylhet, leading Sri Lanka to a resounding 328-run victory.
De Silva has climbed 15 places to reach a career-high 14th position. Meanwhile, Mendis has made a comeback to the rankings, securing a joint-64th position. This marks only the third instance in Test history where two players from the same team have scored a century in each innings of a Test match.
The previous instances include 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 seen significant improvements in the latest weekly update to the men’s rankings. Rajitha has moved up six places to the 38th position after returning match figures of eight for 112, while Fernando has ascended from 50th to 43rd after finishing with seven for 84.
All 20 Bangladesh wickets were taken by Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers, with Lahiru Kumara also making an impact, finishing with five in the match and moving up six spots to 46th.
Bangladesh’s middle-order batter Mominul Haque’s second innings knock of 87 has propelled him eight places to 50th, while new-ball bowler Khaled Ahmed’s four wickets in the match have boosted him from 98th to 89th position.
Currently, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are jointly ranked sixth in the ICC World Test Championships standings, with each team having won one match out of three.
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