Kolkata: After they had a terrific time with the time with the bat during the 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka, Indian openers- Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul have moved up to attain career-best positions in the ICC Test Player rankings.
Dhawan, who was initially drafted into the team as a replacement for Murali Vijay did a wonderful job as his 190 in the first test match in Galle set up the entire series for him and his team. He also scored a valuable 119 in the third test which India won by an innings and 171 runs and he gained 10 places to reach to the 28th position in the rankings for Test batsmen.
He also scored 358 runs in the series which fetched him the Man of the Series award.
His opening partner KL Rahul had a good time in his comeback to the team as he scored two fifty plus scores in both the tests that he played. He equalled his best ranking after he moved to the ninth position in the list. He has a total of 761 rating points, which is his best so far.
Hardik Pandya’s brilliant century in the third test match saw him gain 45 slots to move to the 68th position in the rankings for Test batsmen.
Pacers Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami, both of whom had bowled brilliantly in the Test series have also gained places. Shami has moved up one place to the 19th position while Umesh Yadav too gained a slot to reach to the 21st rank in the list.
Chinaman bowlers Kuldeep Yadav and Lakshan Sandakan took huge leaps in the bowler’s rankings.
Kuldeep Yadav, playing only his second test spun a web around the Sri Lankan batting and registered figures of 4/40 in the first innings and 1/56 in the second, that helped him gain 29 places to move up to the 58th position in the bowlers’ rankings.
Lakshan Sandakan, who had figures of 5/132 has gained 16 slots to reach to the 57th position.
Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal and wicketkeeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella too gained places in the rankings for Test batsmen.
Chandimal has moved up two places to be the 33rd ranked batsman while Dickwella has gained seven places to reach to a career-best 61st position.
Ravindra Jadeja however lost his number one spot in the all-rounder’s list to Bangladeshi Shakib Al-Hasan. Jadeja had been handed a one-match ban after the second test in Colombo as he had accumulated a total of six demerit points within 24 months.
He is just a point short of Shakib’s 431 rating points in the all-rounder’s rankings but continues to be the number one ranked bowler in the longest format.
Both India’s and Sri Lanka’s rankings in Test cricket remained unchanged. The top-ranked Indian side however strengthened their stay at the number one position as they gained two rating points to have a total of 125 points, 15 more than South Africa, the second team in the list. Sri Lanka continues to languish at the seventh position in the list with 90 rating points.
The other two upcoming test series- England vs West Indies and Australia vs Bangladesh is also likely to impact the team rankings. Hosts England would have to win the series in order to retain the third position while an Australia could reach 101 points if they beat Bangladesh 2-0 in the two-match series.