Veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has leapfrogged Ravichandran Ashwin to the 2nd spot in the latest ICC Test Rankings for bowlers after a 10 wicket haul against minnows Zimbabwe in the one off Test at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The left-arm tweaker bagged his 8th 10 wicket haul as Sri Lanka chased down a record target of 388 in the 4th innings to complete a historic victory by 4 wickets.
Herath has moved within 32 points of No.1 ranked bowler Ravindra Jadeja who is sitting pretty at the top of the table. Jadeja played an astounding role in India’s thumping home season and along with Ravichandran Ashwin the duo gave nightmares to all the touring teams. On the other hand, Herath has been the only trump card for Sri Lanka after the retirement of several stalwarts and has gone to pick wickets at a very consistent rate.
Ashwin, on the other hand, was less productive in India’s last home series against the Aussies and it was the reason behind Jadeja going up in the rankings. He bowled exceptional lines and eventually bagged the Man of the series award for his exceptional all-round display. The latest ICC ranking also includes the 2nd Test between England and South Africa which the Proteas won by a huge margin of 340 runs to square the 4 match series 1-1.
Herath who bagged 11 wickets in the one off Test is followed by Ashwin and the joint 4th position is held by Josh Hazlewood and the leading Test wicket taker of England, James Anderson. Herath was not the only left-arm spinner to go up the ranking as South African spinner Keshav Maharaj has also gained 12 points to move up to the 26th position in the latest rankings. The left-arm orthodox bagged 6 wickets in the game.
Maharaja now has 543 points in his kitty and is the 4th highest among all South African spinners. Paul Harris (705), Paul Adams (588) and Nicky Boje (545) are the only other South African spinners with higher points in that period. Meanwhile Zimbabwe skipper and leg-spinner Graeme Cremer also moved up to his career best 53rd slot after bamboozling the Sri Lankan batsmen on a consistent basis.