Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has leapfrogged Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath to wrest back the second position among bowlers to again make it a 1-2 for India with Ravindra Jadeja retaining the top spot. Pace bowler Mohammad Shami has gained one slot to reach 23rd rank.
Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo Mathews has gained two places to reach 17th position after scores of 83 and two at Galle, while batsman Dimuth Karunaratne (up three places to 36th) and pace bowler Nuwan Pradeep (up three places to a career-best 30th) are the others to move up the rankings.
With England’s third Test against South Africa concluding on Monday (July 31), Ben Stokes too made major strides in both batting and bowling, rising to career-high positions in both and displacing Vernon Philander from the fifth spot in the allrounder rankings.
England beat South Africa by 239 runs to take a 2-1 lead with one match remaining in their four-Test series, while India’s win put them 1-0 ahead with two Tests to go in a three-match series.
Several players from all the sides involved made gains in rankings. Shikhar Dhawan, the man of the match in Galle for scores of 190 and 14, rose 21 spots to be 39th. There was no change in rankings for Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, the highest ranked among Indian batsmen remaining on No.4 and No.5 respectively in a list headed by Steven Smith.
ICC Rankings
