ICC Test all-rounders rankings: India's Ravichandran Ashwin becomes World Number 1
Although Ravichandran Ashwin couldn’t contribute much with the ball in his comeback Test match, against England, at Old Trafford, his scores of 40 and 46* made sure he reclaimed the No. 1 all-rounder’s spot in the recently released International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings.
Philander on the downslide
With 372 points now, Ashwin has displaced South African pace bowler Vernon Philander from the top spot. Philander, who is now 7 points behind the Indian player, had a forgettable tour of Sri Lanka, which the visitors won 1-0, managing only 2 wickets in the 4 innings that he bowled, while his counterparts Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel ended up as 2nd and 3rd leading wicket-takers of the series with 13 and 12 wickets to their name, respectively, largely responsible for the Proteas pulling off a historic series victory.
With the bat he could only contribute 63 runs, although he should take a lion’s share of credit for helping his team escape with a draw in the second Test for his unbeaten 98-ball 27.
Standout shows with the bat help Ashwin
Ashwin, who has been on the sidelines for 8 months now after his disappointing shows with the ball outside India, was drafted into the team for the 4th Test against England in the ongoing Investec series in place of Mohammed Shami.
While the visitors surrendered meekly in challenging conditions, losing the match by an innings and 54 runs, the Tamil Nadu-born off-spinner emerged as the leading run-scorer for his team in the match with a combined total of 86 runs. The 27-year-old, picked for his bowling, ironically, looked more comfortable of all the Indian batsmen, showcasing his prowess with the bat, yet again. However, he couldn’t make much of an impact with the bowling ending up with figures of 14-1-29-0 in the one innings he bowled.
Shakib Al Hasan, Stuart Broad and Mitchell Johnson are at 3rd, 4th and 5th spots, respectively. Shane Watson, Ryan Harris, Tim Southee, Dale Steyn and JP Duminy fill up the remaining slots in the top 10 list, in that order.