Marco Jansen Just Took Over Cricket's Toughest Ranking

Dr. Annelies De Vos · 2026-10-29

There's a moment in every cricket career when things click. For Marco Jansen, that moment seems to have arrived — and the ICC rankings are the first to notice. On Wednesday's update, the South African all-rounder climbed to No. 1 among Test bowlers. He also knocked Ravindra Jadeja off the top of the all-rounder table, a spot the Indian had held for more than four years. Not a bad week at the office. ### How Jansen Got There The numbers tell a clean story. In the second Test against Australia in Gqeberha, Jansen took 5 for 33, and South Africa bowled the visitors out for just 99 in the first innings. Earlier in the same match, he'd scored 85 batting at No. 8. Ten wickets across the first two Tests, and a series leveled. That's how you build a case. He now sits on 876 rating points in the Test bowling list. Mitchell Starc slipped to second, while Matt Henry, Ollie Robinson, and Jasprit Bumrah each dropped a place. Bumrah lands fifth with 853 points. One thing worth watching: Starc has already taken six wickets in the ongoing third Test. So this top spot? It could shift again before the series wraps up. ### Abhishek Sharma Answers Back Over in T20I cricket, India's Abhishek Sharma reclaimed the No. 1 batting spot after a knock that was, frankly, ridiculous. He smashed 113 off 38 balls in the third T20I against New Zealand in Wellington. His century came off just 35 deliveries. India chased down 199 and won by six wickets to go 3-0 up in the five-match series. After quiet scores of 29 and 27 in the first two games, that innings pushed him to 897 rating points and past teammate Ishan Kishan, who'd taken the top spot back in July. > "You don't climb to No. 1 twice by accident. You do it by turning quiet series into loud ones." Pakistan captain Sahibzada Farhan holds second with 883 points. Kishan dropped to third on 866 after injury kept him out of the second and third T20Is. India captain Shreyas Iyer fell five places to ninth with 758 points. ### Other Names on the Move - Temba Bavuma jumped four places to second in Test batting, behind only Harry Brook, after his 179 in the second Test earned him Player of the Match. - Scott Boland climbed three spots to sixth among Test bowlers. - Harry Brook rose six places in ODI batting after a 202 against Sri Lanka in the tri-series in Pakistan. - Shaheen Shah Afridi moved up two to sixth in ODI bowling, while Azmatullah Omarzai gained 13 places to seventh. - In women's cricket, South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt took No. 1 in ODI batting from India's Smriti Mandhana, now second. Mandhana sits fourth in women's T20I batting, one behind Shafali Verma in third. ### What This All Means Rankings are a snapshot, not a verdict. But they do tell you who's trending, and right now that's Jansen and Abhishek. Both have found a gear at the right time, and both have a real shot at holding their spots. For Jansen, the real test is consistency over the next few months. For Abhishek, it's about making that Wellington innings the rule rather than the exception. Cricket rewards players who show up when it matters. This week, two of them did exactly that.