R Ashwin reclaims the top spot in ICC bowlers’ rankings
Jul 26, 2016 at 4:25 PM
Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has reclaimed the top rank in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after his brilliant display with the ball in the first Test against West Indies at Antigua which India won by an innings and 92 runs. Ashwin last reached the top of bowlers’ ranking in the 2015 year-ending rankings.
After remaining wicketless in the first innings, Ashwin wreaked havoc on the West Indies batsmen in the second innings by taking his first five-wicket haul outside of Asia. Ashwin finished the match by taking seven wickets for 83.
Before the superb bowling display, Ashwin hit 113 in the first innings, his third Test century, which has helped him to consolidate his position at the top of the all-rounders list. Ashwin, who is only the third Indian to be top-ranked among all-rounders after Vinoo Mankad and Kapil Dev, has opened up a big gap of 43-points with second-placed Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh. Ashwin has moved up from 406 points to a career-best 427 points. In the batsmen list, the off-spinner has jumped three positions to take the 45th rank.
Ashwin has replaced Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who had a poor second Test against England where he could take only one wicket. The leg-spinner grabbed the number-one ranking for bowlers only last week with a 10-wicket haul in the opening Test against England at Lord’s. Yasir Shah has now dropped to fifth place below English pace duo James Anderson, Stuart Broad and South African quick Dale Steyn.
Chris Woakes’ consistent display with the ball has seen him jumping up 10 places to 23rd rank in the bowlers’ list. The all-rounder had a match haul of seven wickets for 108 at Old Trafford.
Indian pace bowler Umesh Yadav, who took 5 wickets in the first Test against West Indies, has jumped six places to reach 24th rank. Meanwhile, Mohammad Shami, who was making a comeback from an injury, has also returned to the rankings at 28th place.
In the batsmen’s ranking, English duo of Joe Root and Alastair Cook have benefited from their brilliant knock in the second Test. After scoring 254 and 71, Root has jumped two places to take the second position while Cook’s innings of 105 and 76 saw him jumping 4 places to take the ninth position.
A monumental innings of 200 saw Indian skipper Virat Kohli jump two places to take the 12th spot in the list while Shikhar Dhawan gained four places after a knock of 84.
Check detailed ICC RANKINGS HERE