India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slipped a place to take the third position in the latest world rankings for Test bowlers.
Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath has climbed to second position after grabbing his eighth 10-wicket match haul and helping his team win the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in Colombo by four wickets.
Herath leapfrogged Ashwin to move within 32 points of Ravindra Jadeja, making it a 1-2 for left-arm spinners.
The 39-year-old Herath, who is the most successful left-arm spinner in Tests with a tally of 384 wickets in 81 matches, finished with a match haul of 11/249 in Colombo to move up. England’s James Anderson and Australia’s Josh Hazlewood are the highest ranked pace bowlers in joint-fourth position.
Herath was not the only left-arm spinner to gain in the rankings. South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj has moved up 12 slots to the 26th position after grabbing six wickets in his team’s 340-run win over England at Trent Bridge.
Maharaj now tallies 543 points, the fourth highest by a South Africa spinner since the country’s return to Test cricket in 1992. Paul Harris (705), Paul Adams (588) and Nicky Boje (545) are the only South Africa spinners with higher point tallies in this period, reported PTI.
Zimbabwe captain and leg-spinner Graeme Cremer’s nine wickets in Colombo have helped him gain 20 places to a career-best 53rd slot, while Anderson’s seven wickets at Trent Bridge have pushed him up one place from the fifth position.
In the Test batsmen’s rankings, Hashim Amla is back in the top 10, having gained six places to reach the seventh position with knocks of 78 and 87 against England, while Zimbabwe batsman Craig Ervine (up 20 places to 40th) and Sikandar Raza (up 28 places to 48th) have attained career-best positions after knocking up centuries against Sri Lanka.
South Africa’s Vernon Philander has, meanwhile, gained two places to reach fifth position in the rankings for all- rounders, after a player-of-the-match performance at Trent Bridge. Philander scored 54 and 42, and grabbed five wickets against England. The all-rounders rankings list is led by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.
