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ICC rankings: Ravichandran Ashwin remains No.1 bowler after missing WTC final vs Aus; rapid gains for Rahane and Shardul
Ravichandran Ashwin is still the No.1 bowler despite missing the WTC final against Australia. Rahane and Shardul have made rapid gains in the ICC rankings.
Despite missing the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) between India and Australia, veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin retained the top spot in the newly released International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings on Wednesday. After inspiring Australia to a historic title win in the recently concluded edition of the ICC World Test Championship, in-form batter Travis Head has made massive gains in Test rankings.
Newly crowned WTC winners Australia have grabbed the top three spots in the batting rankings after defeating Rohit Sharma's Team India in the summit clash. Centuries from Head and Steve Smith propelled Pat Cummins' Australia to a massive 209-run win over the Virat Kohli-starrer side in the WTC final at The Oval. Superstar Head was named the Player of the Match for his scintillating knock of 163 off 174 balls against Rohit and Co. in the WTC final.
The Aussie batter climbed three places and joined top-ranked batter Marnus Labuschagne and ex-Australian skipper Smith (2nd) in the top three of the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings. Head has secured the third spot with a rating of 884 while Usman Khawaja (9th) is the fourth Australian batter in the top 10. The Aussie trio has matched the unique feat of Gordon Greenidge (810), Clive Lloyd (787), and Larry Gomes (773) as the former West Indies batters had occupied the top three spots in the Test rankings during the 1984 season.
Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon jumped two places to share the sixth spot with England's Ollie Robinson (777). Australian pacer Scott Boland moved five places to 36th. Boland is also four places ahead of India star Mohammed Siraj, who recorded figures of 4/108 and 1/80 in the WTC final. Ashwin, who was left out of the Indian playing XI, retained the top spot with 860 points. There were no changes in the positions of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as the batting duo remained static in the 12th and 13th spots respectively. Veteran Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane jumped to the 37th position while all-rounder Shardul Thakur secured the 94th position in the Test batting rankings.
