ICC Rankings: Ravichandran Ashwin leapfrogs Anderson to secure top spot in Tests; Kohli advances by 7 places
ICC Rankings: Ravi Ashwin leapfrogs Anderson to secure top spot in Tests
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin has regained his number spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test bowler’s rankings after he leapfrogged England’s James Anderson. Ashwin was named joint Player of the Series for his impressive showing with both bat and ball, scalping 25 wickets in the four matches in the series. Along with Ashwin, former India skipper Virat Kohli too had a productive week after his 186-run knock against Australia in Ahmadabad as he now resides in 13th place.
The veteran Indian star was enjoying the form of his life during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy series and along with Ravindra Jadeja paired up for 47 wickets. As things stand, with Anderson not in action after the nail-biting series against New Zealand, it was the Indian spin star who took full advantage of the series to reclaim the top spot.
On the flip side, former captain Kohli had a series to forget until his final innings where he scored 186 runs to return to form. The ton in Ahmadabad was his first in 1204 days in the red-ball format and also saw him bring up his 75th international ton. Despite his excellent touch of form, the right-hand batter is not in the top 10 Test batters as Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant remain India’s representatives in the summit side.
Interestingly, Ravindra Jadeja has taken a deep in standings by one place and now resides at ninth place despite 22 wickets in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He along with Jasprit Bumrah are other Indian names in the top 10 of the bowler's standings. However, both Jadeja and Ashwin reside as the top two in the all-rounder's rankings in Test cricket respectively while Axar Patel has also thrown his name in the hat with some impressive showing in the red-ball format.
In the team rankings, India have failed to pull down Australia and sit second with England in third and South Africa in fourth place. The Indian team will next take the field on Friday, March 17 against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in the first ODI of the three-match series.
