Ashwin and Kohli achieve career-best rankings

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin today broke into the top 20 of ICC's Test Rankings for the first time at a career-best 18th spot after guiding the team to a series whitewash over New Zealand at home.

The 25-year-old from Chennai, who took five for 69 in New Zealand's second innings in the second Test at Bangalore, jumped seven places on the chart. The off-spinner finished the two-match Test series with 18 wickets, and gained 26 places on the bowlers' table through the course of the series, as India defeated New Zealand 2-0.

Ashwin, who was named player of the series, also achieved a career-high rating of 591. Ashwin's team-mate, Pragyan Ojha, ended with a match haul of seven for 148 and moved up a place to 14th, which is his career-best ranking. Ojha's overall rating of 675 is also his best-ever rating.

For New Zealand, fast bowler Tim Southee, who returned career-best figures of seven for 64 in India's first innings, has jumped 10 places to 40th. His overall rating of 432 is also his career-best to date, the ICC said in a statement.

India pace bowlers Zaheer Khan (15th) and Umesh Yadav (48th) slipped a place each. New Zealand bowlers, who dropped in the latest rankings are Doug Bracewell in 30th (down by one), James Franklin in 49th (down by five) and Trent Boult in 69th (down by six).

The rankings for Test bowlers is still headed by South Africa's Dale Steyn, with teammate Vernon Philander and Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan in second and third positions, respectively. The two centurions in the Bangalore Test, New Zealand captain Ross Taylor and India's Virat Kohli, made upward movements in the batting chart.

Kohli, who scored 103 and 51 not out, has vaulted 12 places to achieve a career-best ranking of 35. His overall rating of 580 is also a career-best for the batsman.
Taylor, who made 113 and 35, has moved up six places to 12th. The other batsmen to make upward movements are Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 36th (up by two), Daniel Flynn in 68th (up by nine), Kruger van Wyk in 75th (up by 23) and James Franklin in 88th (up by three).

Batsmen losing ground after the Bangalore Test include Sachin Tendulkar in 16th (down by five), Virender Sehwag in 23rd (down by one), Brendon McCullum in 28th (down by four), Martin Guptill in 37th (down by two), Gautam Gambhir in 38th (down by two), Kane Williamson in 43rd (down by six) and Cheteshwar Pujara in 58th (down by two).

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakarra remains the top-ranked batsman, followed by South Africa's Hashim Amla and West Indies veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul in second and third positions, respectively.

The rankings for Test all-rounders is still headed by Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan with South Africa's Jacques Kallis in second spot. Meanwhile, the 2-0 series win has fetched India two ratings points in the ICC Test Championship, lifting them to 106 ratings points, just three behind fourth-ranked Pakistan, while New Zealand has slipped to 76 ratings points (down from 80).