AGENCIES, |
DEC 08|15 Dubai: India’s left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja has broken into top-10 of the Test bowlers rankings for the first time as he climbed up four places to earn a career-best seventh position, while Ravichandran Ashwin gained a spot to top the all-rounders’ list. Ajinkya Rahane became India’s highest-ranked Test batsman. He has stormed up 14 places to claim a career-high 12th spot. The 27-year-old Jadeja had started the just-concluded Test series between India and South Africa in 30th position. But a consistent performance from him in the series, saw him climb up the ladder. In the final Test match at New Delhi alone, he picked up seven wickets. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav has also been rewarded for his figures of two for 32 and three for nine as he has vaulted 13 places to achieve a career-best 32nd position in the Test bowlers’ chart, which is con- tinued to be headed by South Africa pacer Dale Steyn. Rahane had entered the Test in 26th spot, but after scoring 127 and 100 not out in his side’s 337- run win over South Africa in the Delhi Test that helped the home side post a 3-0 series win, he leapfrogged his skipper Virat Kohli. Kohli, on his part, also gained two places to be at 14th. Other Indian batsmen in Murali Vijay (down by four places to 16th) and Cheteshwar Pujara (down by two places to 17th) also figure in the top 20 chart. Ashwin is the other batsman who has improved his ranking post the Delhi Test. Ashwin scored 56 in his only innings, which has helped him move up five places to 46th. With the ball, Ashwin returned figures of two for 26 and five for 61, and though his performance has helped him gain 15 points to reduce the gap with table-topper Steyn to just four points, it has allowed him to move ahead of Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan as the new number-one ranked Test allrounder.
