AB de Villiers regains No.1 Test batting ranking

New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) South Africa’s AB de Villiers has overtaken teammate Hashim Amla at the top of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen released Sunday to regain the number-one spot that he last held in April 2012.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are the only Indian batsmen in the top 20 list. Pujara is in seventh position while the Indian captain shares 20th position with the West Indies’ explosive opener Chris Gayle.

The latest rankings were released after South Africa beat Pakistan by an innings and 92 runs in the second and final Test in Dubai Saturday to level the series 1-1.

De Villiers, who came into the Dubai Test on 882 ratings points, earned 27 ratings points for his knock of 164 to finish at a career-best 909, thereby becoming only the 28th batsman in the history of the game to break the 900-rating points barrier, a benchmark for top batsmen.

De Villiers, who finished as the Player of the Series with 273 runs, is now 24th in the all-time batting ratings list.

Amla, who did not play in the Dubai Test, has now dropped to second place on. The right-hand opening batsman had been on top of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen since February 2013, when he overtook Australia captain Michael Clarke.

Top 10 batsman:

1. AB de Villiers (South Africa)

2. Hashim Amla (South Africa)

3. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)

4. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)

5. Michael Clarke (Australia)

6. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)

7. Cheteshwar Pujara (India)

8. Graeme Smith (South Africa)

9. Younus Khan (Pakistan)

10. Ian Bell (England)