Indian spin ace Ravichandran Ashwin has reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the International Cricket Council's Player Rankings for Test bowlers after picking up 27 wickets during India's 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand, opening up a 22-point lead between him and second-placed Dale Steyn of South Africa.
Ashwin currently has 900 points to Steyn's 878. England's James Anderson is third on the list. Before the third Test commenced at Indore, Ashwin was behind Steyn and Anderson at third in the table before scaling to the summit with a 13/140 match haul.
Ashwin finished 2015 at the top of the bowlers' charts and had briefly reached the landmark earlier in the year too. Ashwin now joins a elite brand of players to touch 900 points since the turn of the century. Only Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath, Vernon Philander, Steyn and Shaun Pollock have achieved the feat before the 30-year-old all-rounder.
Among the batsmen, Ajinkya Rahane has climbed to a career-best sixth in the batting charts after slamming 188 and 23 not out in the Indore Test. India's No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara and skipper Virat Kohli also improved their standings with a century and a double century respectively. Pujara moved to 14th while Kohli climbed two spots to clinch the 16th position. Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up 13 wickets in the New Zealand series along with a solitary half-century with the bat, has risen to a career-best joint-third place in the all-rounders rankings.
