Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja’s maiden 10-wicket match haul against England in Chennai has propelled him to second position behind teammate and India’s star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the ICC Test bowler rankings released on Wednesday.
Jadeja’s performance has earned him 66 points and brought him to within eight points of Ashwin.
This is just the second time the top two spots Bowlers have been occupied by India players, with the pair emulating left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi and leg-spinner Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, who were ranked one and two in 1974.
Jadeja grabbed 10-154 in the final Test and finished with 26 wickets in the five-match series while Ashwin ended with 28 wickets as India completed a 4-0 series victory over England, following an innings and 75 runs win in Chennai on Tuesday.
Jadeja, who leapfrogged Australia's Josh Hazlewood, England's James Anderson, South Africa's Dale Steyn and Sri Lanka's Rangana Herth, also gained one place to reach a career-best third rank in the list of all-rounders, again led by his teammate Ashwin.
Among other Indians, pace bowler Ishant Sharma moved up two places to 23rd.
Australia pace bowler Mitchell Starc moved up two slots to a career-best sixth position after taking seven wickets in the first Test against Pakistan in Brisbane, and helping the hosts to a 39 run-win and to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz jumped up two places to a career-best 24th rank while Aus Pacer Jackson Bird also climbed five places to 48th
In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, India’s Lokesh Rahul and Karun Nair who struck 199 and 303 not out respectively, have made huge gains.
Rahul’s knock helped him gain 29 slots to reach a career-best 51st position while Nair’s unbeaten triple century in only his third Test innings lifted him 122 places to 55th position.
Pakistan’s Asad Shafiq moved up five places to the 20th spot after scoring two and 137 in the day-night Brisbane Test at the Gabba.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s veteran batsman Younis Khan moved up one place to eighth position and his compatriot Azhar Ali gained one slot to sit on 16th.
Australia batsman Usman Khawaja, who hit a half-century (74) in the second innings of the Brisbane Test, reached a career-best 18th rank.
