Mitchell Starc Reaches No. 1 in ICC Test Bowler Rankings for First Time at Age 36

Mitchell Starc has never been the No. 1 Test bowler in the world. Not after 107 Tests. Not after 445 wickets. Not until Wednesday, August 26, 2026, when the ICC released updated Test bowler rankings putting the 36-year-old Australian left-armer on top for the first time in his career.

The move came after Starc's demolition of Bangladesh in the second Test in Mackay. He took 6/12 in the first innings and 4/39 in the second, finishing with match figures of 10 wickets as Australia won by an innings and 51 runs, leveling the series, according to the Times of India and the ICC's own reporting. Starc picked up Player of the Match and Player of the Series honors for the effort.

That performance vaulted him two spots, past both New Zealand's Matt Henry and India's Jasprit Bumrah, according to ANI. Starc now sits 10 rating points clear of Bumrah in second place, per the Times of India and the Express Tribune.

Bumrah's reign, by the numbers

Bumrah first reached No. 1 in February 2024 and held the position for much of the past two years, according to the ICC. His latest stretch at the top lasted about two months before Starc passed him. Across his career, Bumrah has spent a combined 697 days ranked No. 1, the most of any Indian bowler and the 14th-highest total in Test history, according to the Times of India and the Express Tribune.

Bumrah didn't lose the ranking on the field. He's currently out of India's ongoing series against Sri Lanka with a knee injury, according to ANI and the ICC. His absence from that series, combined with Starc's Player of the Series run against Bangladesh, produced the shift at the top, per the ICC's own account.

Open Magazine's Rajiv Singh made the case for why this doesn't settle anything. Bumrah's career Test bowling average sits at 19.79, a number Singh calls "almost otherworldly." Starc climbed to No. 1 by taking wickets; Bumrah slipped to No. 2 while rehabbing a knee. The gap between them is 10 rating points. Singh's framing: rankings capture the present, not the full picture of who the better bowler actually is.

ICC rankings are a rolling, weighted formula based on recent performance, opposition quality, and match context. They reward activity. A bowler who's fit, playing, and taking wickets will always have an advantage over one who's injured and watching from the sidelines, no matter how dominant his underlying numbers are. Bumrah remains one of the best bowlers alive. The ranking swap reflects who's playing right now, not a reassessment of who's better over a career.

Other movers in the same rankings update

Starc wasn't the only riser. Australia captain Pat Cummins moved up one spot to fourth after taking six wickets against Bangladesh, and spinner Nathan Lyon climbed two places to 10th, according to the ICC and IANS.

England's Ollie Robinson jumped 15 places to 11th after taking 5/51 and 3/39 in England's innings-and-103-run win over Pakistan at Headingley, a performance that also earned him Player of the Match. His teammate Josh Tongue rose 16 spots to 17th after grabbing eight wickets in that same Leeds Test, according to the Express Tribune and ICC.

India's Manav Suthar made one of the biggest leaps on the list, climbing 28 places to a career-best 48th after a 10-wicket match haul in India's 165-run win over Sri Lanka in Galle, per the Times of India. Sri Lankan bowlers Asitha Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya each gained five spots, to 15th and 16th respectively.

Batting rankings largely unchanged at the top

England's Harry Brook and Joe Root retained the top two spots in the Test batting rankings, with Brook actually extending his lead over Root to 24 rating points after scoring 90 in the Leeds Test against Pakistan, according to the Express Tribune. Australia's Steve Smith and Travis Head hold third and fourth.

The standout mover was India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who climbed six places to joint seventh, his first time back in the top 10 in a year, after scores of 39 and 66 in India's win over Sri Lanka in Galle, according to IANS and the Express Tribune.

Ravindra Jadeja remains the No. 1-ranked Test all-rounder, unchanged in this update, per IANS.

None of this is permanent. Bumrah's return from injury, whenever it happens, will put him back into rotation for a ranking system that rewards recent output. Starc, at 36, becomes the oldest first-time No. 1 bowler in recent memory, and the next ICC update will depend on how both men perform when they're actually on the field together.