India (Commonwealth) _Taking nine wickets in his 100th Test match, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings.
India defeated England by an innings and 64 runs at Dharamsala to secure a 4-1 victory in the ICC World Test Championship series. Ashwin recorded hauls of four for 51 and five for 77 against England. For the first time in his sixth tenure at the top of the rankings, Ashwin defeated fellow countryman Jasprit Bumrah to take the top place. His first peak position came in December 2015.
Player of the match Kuldeep Yadav, who finished with seven wickets in the match, rose fifteenth to a career-best 16th position. Yadav became the fastest Indian player in terms of balls bowled to collect 50 Test wickets.
Notable advances have been achieved by India captain Rohit Sharma (up five spots to sixth) and Shubman Gill (up 11 spots to a career-best 20th), while Player of the Series Yashasvi Jaiswal (up two spots to eighth after hitting a half-century).
After nine Test matches, Jaiswal has accumulated 740 rating points. Only two other batsmen, Australians Don Bradman (752) and Mike Hussey (741), have amassed more points in the same number of Test matches. Spinner Shoaib Bashir has risen 11 spots to 71st place in the batting rankings, while England’s Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow have each moved up a spot.
With a 2-0 series victory against New Zealand in Christchurch, Australia moved up to second position in the WTC standings, trailing only India. Alex Carey, who made a match-winning 98 not out, moved up from 50th to 38th. Josh Hazlewood, a fast bowler, carried on with his excellent form, taking six wickets in the game, including a five-for. With 35 wickets at 15.31 for the season, he moved up to second place after Ashwin.
That is also his highest ranking he has ever had, which he first attained in February 2017. Even though Hazlewood’s bowling rating peaked in March 2017 at 864, he has never held the top rank. The only other artists with higher peaks who have never reached number one are Rangana Herath (866), Courtney Walsh (868), Ryan Harris (870), and Kapil Dev (877).
Matt Henry moved up six spots to 12th and over the 700-point threshold for the first time in his career thanks to his outstanding first-inning stats of seven for 67.Additionally, he is ranked sixth among all-rounders. Other players to climb up the batting rankings are New Zealanders Tom Latham (up six spots to 35th) and Rachin Ravindra (up ten places to 66th), as well as Australian Mitchell Marsh (up eight places to 55th).
Men’s ODI Rankings: Rahmanullah Gurbaz jumps from 24th to 22nd place with his team’s series-topping 172 runs in their 2-0 victory over Afghanistan, while Harry Tector of Ireland moves up two spots to a career-best-equaling fourth position after scoring 141 runs in the three-match series.
The most recent update has also seen gains for Fazalhaq Farooqi (up 10 places to 41st among bowlers) and Ibrahim Zadran (up three places to 14th among hitters). The Men’s T20I Rankings show that after the United Arab Emirates defeated Scotland in the opening T20I in Dubai, Muhammad Waseem moved up two spots to 14th among hitters after scoring 68 not out, while Junaid Siddiqui moved up 14 spots to 74th among bowlers after returning four for 14.
Since Shoriful Islam of Bangladesh (increased 19 places to 39th) and Ayan Afzal Khan of the UAE (up six places to 40th) have regained ground in the bowling rankings, other players who have moved up are Michael Levitt of the Netherlands (up 17 places to 32nd), Najmul Hossain Shanto of Bangladesh (all the way up two places to 33rd), and Nepal captain Rohit Paudel (up six places to 48th).
Ravichandran Ashwin is a bottom order batsman and right-arm off spin bowler. He plays cricket for India and is widely considered as one of the most prolific off spinners of all time. The Indian squad that won the 2013 Champions Trophy and the 2011 Cricket World Cup included him. In domestic cricket, he plays for South Zone and Tamil Nadu; in the Indian Premier League, he plays for Rajasthan Royals (IPL).
