The claim that Ravindra Jadeja's run as the No.1 Test all-rounder is a world record, has gone viral in the past week. However, this may not be true.
Earlier this week, Jadeja completed 1,150 consecutive days atop the ICC's player rankings for all-rounders in Test cricket, a run that stretches back to March 2022.
He first reached the No.1 ranking on August 7, 2017 – staying there for just under two weeks. There was another brief spell from March 8, 2022 to March 16, 2022 before he was overtaken by West Indies' Jason Holder. Jadeja reclaimed the No.1 ranking later that month, and has stayed at the top ever since.
His lead was cut down slightly last week, as Bangladesh's Mehidy Hasan Miraz gained on him following a match-winning performance against Zimbabwe.
Various news articles, social media posts and videos have emerged claiming that Jadeja's run, which now lasts over three years, is a world record. In fact, on the evening of May 15, 2025 even the Indian cricket team's official handle congratulated him on the achievement.
Is Jadeja's streak actually a world record?
Unfortunately, while Jadeja's run of over three years at the top is hugely impressive, it does not appear to be a world record. The ICC maintains a database with historical ICC rankings, with date-specific and player-specific pages also available.
According to this site (an ICC source) former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis was the No.1 ranked all-rounder in Test cricket from December 19, 2006 to December 19, 2011 – a run of five years, or 1,827 days which is well above Jadeja's current mark.
Kallis himself had a separate stretch of 1,149 days on top of the rankings, between March 12, 2002 and May 3, 2005. Jadeja did pass that mark this week, leading to the possibility that it could have incorrectly been flagged as a world record.
The rankings were also applied to Test cricket retrospectively, after being developed in 1987. This means rankings are now available for players before that time, which was not the case when they were active.
Among these pre-1987 players, West Indies great Garfield Sobers once had an unbroken run of 12 years as the world's No.1 Test all-rounder. Between February 20, 1962 and March 10, 1974, he was top of the standings – a total of 4,402 days.
Unless there is anything in the ICC's methodology that means the historical rankings site is wrong, Jadeja's current streak is not a world record.
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