Ravindra Jadeja set the record for the longest run as the top all-round player in Test cricket history, according to a Thursday announcement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Jadeja has held the top spot in the men’s Test all-rounder rankings for 1152 days, according to a BCCI post on X.
Jadeja has participated in 80 Test matches for India since his debut on December 13, 2012, against England in Nagpur.
With 400 rating points, Jadeja does top the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) most recent rankings for all-rounders. On March 9, 2022, Jadeja passed Jason Holder of the West Indies and has maintained the top rank ever since.
However, an article in the Wisden suggests that Jadeja’s record might not be totally accurate.
A thorough database of past ICC rankings, along with pages dedicated to specific players and dates, is kept up to date by the ICC. According to the ICC, Jadeja’s current accomplishment is easily surpassed by former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who was the top-ranked all-rounder in Test cricket for 1,827 days, or a little over five years, from December 19, 2006, to December 19, 2011.
Actually, from March 12, 2002, to May 3, 2005, Kallis had a separate 1,149-day run at the top of the rankings. This threshold was recently exceeded by Jadeja, which may have resulted in it being wrongly marked as a world record.
Because the ICC rankings were created in 1987 and applied retroactively to Test cricket, players who were not playing at the time may now access the rankings.
The record for the longest continuous run as the world’s top Test all-rounder is held by West Indies great Garfield Sobers, who played before 1987. His tenure at the top of the rankings lasted an amazing 12 years, or 4,402 days, from February 20, 1962, to March 10, 1974.
Jadeja’s current streak cannot be formally recognized as a world record unless there is an error and the ICC does not follow this technique.
