Ashwin climbs to 18th spot

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Tuesday 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 in 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 man 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.

Indian pace bowlers Zaheer Khan (15th) and Umesh Yadav (48th) slipped a place each. 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.

Virat Kohli  made upward movement in the batting chart. Kohli, who scored 103 and 51 not out, has vaulted 12 places to achieve a career-best ranking of 35.

Meanwhile, the 2-0 series win has fetched India two rating points in the ICC Test Championship, lifting them to 106 ratings points, just three behind fourth-ranked Pakistan, while New Zealand have slipped to 76 rating points (down from 80).