Jadeja catches up with Ashwin at top of Rankings

Jadeja’s seven wickets in the match, which included a crucial six for 63 in the first innings, have helped him move up one rank to reach the top position for the first time in his career. The last time two bowlers shared the top spot was in April 2008 when Dale Steyn and Muttiah Muralidaran were at the top.

Ashwin too played an important role in the match, which India won by 75 runs to level the four-match series 1-1, so as not to concede the top ranking. His eight wickets took him past spin legend Bishan Bedi’s tally of 266 wickets and made him the fifth-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests with 269 wickets.

Australia spinner Nathan Lyon’s eight wickets in the match have lifted him two places to 16th rank while his team’s left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe and India pace bowler Umesh Yadav have gained one place each to reach career-best 28th and 29th places, respectively.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen Australia captain Steve Smith has maintained his reign at the top for 77 Tests, going past Ricky Ponting’s 76 matches and now has the third longest stint at the top among Australians after Steve Waugh (94) and Don Bradman (93).

His team-mates Matt Renshaw has gained six places to reach a career-best 28th rank with knocks of 60 and five while left-hander Shaun Marsh has moved up five places to 37th position with scores of 66 and nine.

India captain Virat Kohli has conceded the second rank to England’s Joe Root after managing only 27 runs in the match and 40 in the series so far. Root is now one point ahead of Kohli at 848 points.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s innings of 17 and 92 have lifted him up five places to sixth rank while Ajinkya Rahane has moved up two places to 15th rank after scoring 17 and 52 in Bangalore. Player of the match Lokesh Rahul has gained 23 places to reach 23rd spot after scores of 90 and 51.

The list of all-rounders saw a change at the top as Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan moved ahead of Ashwin, who has scored only 20 runs in four innings against Australia so far. Ashwin had overtaken Shakib in December 2015.

India’s win in the second Test assures it the No.1 spot in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings on the April 1 cut-off date and a cash prize of $1 million. The fight is now for the second, third and fourth places.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 8 March, after the first Test between India and Australia in Bengaluru)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts       Avge   Highest Rating

   1       ( - )       Steve Smith      Aus      936      59.32   939 v Ind at Pune 2017

   2       (+1)      Joe Root           Eng      848      52.80   917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3       (-1)       Virat Kohli         Ind       847      49.90   895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   4       ( - )       K.Williamson     NZ        823      50.07   893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   5       ( - )       David Warner    Aus      794      48.27   880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   6       (+5)      C. Pujara          Ind       793      49.84   851 v SA at Durban 2013

   7       (-1)       Hashim Amla    SA        787      49.99   907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   8       (-1)       Azhar Ali           Pak      779      47.07   787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

   9       (-1)       Younus Khan    Pak      772      53.06   880 v SL at Lahore 2009

  10      (-1)       Q. de Kock       SA        760*    51.04   769 v SL at Cape Town 2017

Other selected rankings

Rank    (+/-)      Player               Team     Pts        Avge    Highest Rating

15        (+2)      A. Rahane        Ind       719      45.96   825 v NZ at Indore 2016

23        (+23)    Lokesh Rahul    Ind       656*!   40.88   656 v Aus at Bengaluru 2017

28        (+6)      Matt Renshaw   Aus      631*!   53.22   631 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

37         (+5)     Shaun Marsh    Aus      576*    38.27   591 v SA at Perth 2016

64=      (+3)      W. Saha           Ind       431*    29.82   457 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player                Team     Pts      Avge      Highest Rating

  1=      ( - )       R. Ashwin         Ind       892      24.79    904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

            (+1)      R. Jadeja          Ind       892!     23.44   892 v Aus at Bengaluru 2017

   3       (-1)       J. Hazlewood    Aus      863!     24.38   863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

   4       ( - )       R. Herath          SL        827      28.31   867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   5       ( - )       K. Rabada        SA        821*!   21.76   821 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   6       ( - )       Dale Steyn        SA        819      22.30   909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   7       ( - )       J.Anderson       Eng      810      28.50   884 v SL at Durham 2016

   8       ( - )       Stuart Broad     Eng      803      28.54   880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

   9       ( - )       V. Philander      SA        798      21.40   912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

  10=    ( - )       Mitchell Starc    Aus      757      28.35   805 v Pak at Brisbane 2016

            (+1)      Neil Wagner      NZ        757      28.58   760 v SA at Centurion 2016

Other selected rankings

Rank    (+/-)      Player               Team      Pts      Avge    Highest Rating

16        (+2)      Nathan Lyon     Aus      654      33.09    696 v NZ at Wellington 2016

28        (+1)      Steve O'Keefe   Aus      528*!   20.86   528 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

29        (+1)      Umesh Yadav   Ind       517*!   36.53    517 v Aus at Bengaluru 2017

All-rounders (top five)

Rank    (+/-)      Player                Team      Pts      Highest Rating

   1       (+1)      S. Al Hasan       Ban      441      443 v NZ at Christchurch 2017

   2       (-1)       R. Ashwin         Ind       434      493 v Eng at Mohali 2016

   3       ( - )       R. Jadeja          Ind       360      407 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   4       ( - )       Mitchell Starc    Aus      332      347 v Ind at Pune 2017

   5       ( - )       Ben Stokes       Eng      327/*   351 v Ind at Mohali 2016