Pakistan can not reclaim the number-one ranking even defeating WI with a 3-0 win

Lahore : Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has surged to the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers with a career-best haul of 13-140 in the final Test that helped defeat New Zealand by a massive 321 runs, India’s second biggest victory in terms of runs.

Ashwin, who was named man of the series after he finished with 27 wickets in a 3-0 sweep by India, now has 220 wickets, the most by any bowler after 39 Tests. Ranked third before the final Test in Indore, Ashwin has leapfrogged pace bowlers James Anderson and Dale Steyn to attain a career-best rating of 900 points.

Ashwin, who finished the 2015 year-end rankings as the number-one bowler and was also at the top briefly in July this year, has joined a select band to have touched a rating of 900 points since 2000, the others being Muttiah Muralidaran, Glenn McGrath, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Shaun Pollock.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen led by Australia captain Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane has attained a career-best sixth-rank with scores of 188 and 23 not out. Rahane, whose previous best was eighth rank in August this year, has gained five slots after starting the match at 11^th position.

The Indore Test also saw Cheteshwar Pujara and captain Virat Kohli move up the rankings. Pujara’s knocks of 41 and 101 not out have helped him move up one place to 14^th rank while Kohli’s scores of 211 and 17 at Indore have helped him move up four places to 16^th position.

For New Zealand, opener Martin Guptill has moved up 10 places to 58^th rank with knocks of 72 and 29 while Jimmy Neesham has moved up 12 slots to 70^th position.

In the all-rounders’ list, India’s Ravindra Jadeja has reached a career-best joint-third rank.

Pakistan v West Indies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Meanwhile, Pakistan hosts the West Indies in a three-Test series in the UAE, which starts with a day-night match in Dubai on Thursday.

Pakistan’s players would be eyeing the opportunity to move up the rankings even though the team does not have a chance to reclaim the number-one ranking from India even with a 3-0 win.

Fourth-ranked Younis Khan, who is just two points behind South Africa batsman Hashim Amla’s tally of 847 points, will miss the opening Test because of illness but 11^th-ranked Misbah has a chance to overtake England batsman Alastair Cook, whom he trails by just six points.

Asad Shafiq (13^th), Azhar Ali (17^th) and Sarfraz Ahmed (19^th) would also be looking to move towards the top 10 by dominating a side they blanked 3-0 in both an ODI series as well as a Twenty20 series that preceded the Tests.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who is just five wickets away from 100 wickets and a permanent ranking, is Pakistan’s leading bowler at sixth position while pace bowler Wahab Riaz is ranked 29^th.

For West Indies, Darren Bravo (28^th), Kraigg Brathwaite (31^st) and Marlon Samuels (46^th) are the leading batsmen while pace bowler Kemar Roach (23rd), leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo (41st) and Shannon Gabriel (48th) are in the top-50.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 12 October after the India-New Zealand series)

Batsmen (top 10)

 

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

   1         ( – )        Steve Smith         Aus        906       58.55     936 v Eng at Lord’s 2015

   2         ( – )        Joe Root               Eng        878       54.86     917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3         (+1)       Hashim Amla      SA         847       51.16     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   4         (+1)       Younus Khan       Pak        845       53.72     880 v SL at Lahore 2009

   5         (-2)        Kane Williamson NZ         841       50.31     893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   6         (+5)       Ajinkya Rahane   Ind         825!      51.37     825 v NZ at Indore 2016

   7=       (-1)        Adam Voges        Aus        802*     72.75      824 v SL at Galle 2016

              (-1)        AB de Villiers     SA         802       50.46     935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   9         (-1)        David Warner      Aus        772       48.63     880 v NZ at Perth 2015

  10        (-1)        Alastair Cook      Eng        770       47.31     874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012  

 

Other selected rankings

 

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

11          (-1)        Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak        764       48.27     842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014

13          ( – )        Asad Shafiq         Pak        739       42.85     758 v Eng at Lord’s 2016

14          (+1)       C. Pujara              Ind         731       49.22     851 v SA at Durban 2013

16          (+4)       Virat Kohli          Ind         718       45.56     784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

17          (-1)        Azhar Ali             Pak        692       43.27     753 v SL at Pallekele 2012

19          ( – )        Sarfraz Ahmed    Pak        678       43.79     715 v SL at Galle 2015

20          (-4)        Ross Taylor         NZ         675       46.24     871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

 

Bowlers (top 10)

 

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

   1         (+2)       R. Ashwin            Ind         900!      24.29     900 v NZ at Indore 2016

   2         (-1)        Dale Steyn           SA         878       22.24     909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   3         (-1)        James Anderson  Eng        870       28.28     884 v SL at Durham 2016

   4         ( – )        Stuart Broad        Eng        836       28.52     880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

   5         ( – )        Rangana Herath   SL          831       28.71     851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014

   6         (+1)       Yasir Shah           Pak        806*     27.48      878 v Eng at Lord’s 2016

   7         (-1)        Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         805*     23.52     809 v NZ at Kolkata 2016

   8         ( – )        Mitchell Starc     Aus        792!      27.36     792 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2016

   9         (+1)       Neil Wagner        NZ         731*     29.63     760 v SA at Centurion 2016

  10        (+1)       V. Philander        SA         723       22.09     912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013 

 

Other selected rankings

 

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

11=       (-2)        Trent Boult          NZ         715       29.56     825 v Eng at Lord’s 2015

23         (+1)       Kemar Roach       WI         551       30.23     774 v SA at Centurion 2014

24         (-1)        M. Shami             Ind         547*     33.72     570 v NZ at Kolkata 2016

28         (-2)        B. Kumar             Ind         496*     28.04     501 v NZ at Kolkata 2016

29         ( – )        Wahab Riaz         Pak        490*!    34.50    490 v Eng at The Oval 2016

 

All-rounders (top five)

 

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Pts          Highest Rating

   1       ( – )       R. Ashwin        Ind       451!      451 v NZ at Indore 2016

   2       ( – )       S. Al Hasan      Ban      384        419 v Zim at Khulna 2014

   3=     (+1)      R. Jadeja          Ind       292*/*!  292 v NZ at Indore 2016

            ( – )       Moeen Ali        Eng      292 /*!   292 v Pak at The Oval 2016

   5       ( – )       Mitchell Starc   Aus      279!      279 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2016