KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan reach career best spots in latest ICC Test rankings
Team India’s Test openers KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan achieved career-best spots in the latest ICC rankings, released after the conclusion of the three-Test series in Sri Lanka. India also retained its position at the top of the team rankings, while the Lankans stayed put on the seventh spot.
Dhawan, who top-scored in the third Test at Pallekele with a sublime 119, received the Man of the Series award for his consistent run with the bat, scoring two centuries in total in the three matches. He moved up ten places to reach the 28th spot, while KL Rahul, who opened with Dhawan in the final two Tests, moved two places to equal his career best spot of ninth, just three points behind South Africa’s Hashim Amla.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, along with Ajinkya Rahane at No.10, are the other Indians in the batting top-10: while Pujara slid one point after failing to repeat his deeds from the Colombo Test, Kohli stayed put on the fifth spot.
In the bowlers rankings, there were no changes in the top-10, with India's Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin retaining their positions at No.1 and No.3 respectively. While Jadeja didn’t play the final Test due to suspension, Ashwin picked up six wickets in total, but didn’t budge from his spot, one below England's James Anderson.
The rest of the Indian bowling attack, however, saw movement in the rankings, most noticeably Kuldeep Yadav, who jumped 29 places to reach the 58th spot. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav moved one place each, reaching the 19th and 21st spot respectively.
For Sri Lanka, the silver lining from the humiliating whitewash included ascents for Lakshan Sandakan, Niroshan Dickwella and Dinesh Chandimal.
In the all-rounders’ list, the suspension did Jadeja some harm, as he slipped to the second spot, handling Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan the No.1 spot. Hardik Pandya, India’s find of the tournament, jumped 45 places to reach a career-best 68th spot in the batsmen’s rankings.
Here are the complete lists
Batsmen rankings
#1 Steve Smith (941)
#2 Joe Root (891)
#3 Cheteshwar Pujara (888)
#4 Kane Williamson (880)
#5 Virat Kohli (813)
#6 Ajinkya Rahane (776)
#7 Jonny Bairstow (772)
#8 Azhar Ali (769)
#9 Hashim Amla (764)
#10 David Warner (759)
Bowlers rankings
#1 Ravindra Jadeja (893)
#2 James Anderson (860)
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin (842)
#4 Josh Hazlewood (826)
#5 Rangana Herath (817)
#6 Kagiso Rabada (785)
#7 Stuart Broad (775)
#8 Dale Steyn (763)
#9 Vernon Philander (751)
#10 Neil Wagner (745)
All-rounders rankings
#1 Shakib Al Hasan (431)
#2 Ravindra Jadeja (430)
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin (418)
#4 Moeen Ali (409)
#5 Ben Stokes (360)