Rahane, Ashwin, Jadeja jumps big in ICC Test Rankings: India’s lanky offie Ravichandran Ashwin has been phenomenal over the last year or so and one of the prime reason behind India’s success. India jumped up to the second position in latest ICC Rankings and so does Ashwin just 4 points behind the peak position holder Dale Steyn. His performance also with the bat cannot be overlooked as it took him to the peak surpassing Shakib Al Hasan for the No.1 Test all-rounder. Ashwin picked up 31 wickets in the recently concluded series to grab the Man-of-the-Series award. He is also the world’s leading wicket taker (62) in 2015. He is making a habit of winning the Man-of-the-Series award as he has now 5 out of 6 series India won – the joint most with Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
Saurashtra’s Southpaw broke into the Test team after an improved domestic cricketing season as he was excluded from the national team by the selectors. His hardwork paid-off and South Africa’s batsmen always seemed to struggle against Ravindra Jadeja, the talismanic all-rounder for the Indian team. His performance helped him to enter into the Top 10 of the Test rankings for bowlers for the first time as he occupied the 7th position.
India’s new Mr. Dependable Ajinkya Rahane had the biggest jump in ICC Test Rankings as he moved from 26th position to occupy 12th position. He is now India’s highest ranked Test batsman in ICC Rankings with Virat Kohli just two position below him. The 27-year-old have almost come out to be the saviour for the Indian team as he scores big on difficult tracks rescuing his team from after batting collapse. The same case did happened in both the innings in the 4th Test against South Africa in Delhi where he smashed two brilliant tons (127 and 100*) to become the Man-of-the-Match.
Fast bowler Umesh Yadav was also rewarded for his figures of two for 32 and three for nine as he vaulted 13 places to achieve a career-best 32nd position. Kohli, on his part, also gained two places to be at 14th.
Murali Vijay saw himself down by four places to 16th and Cheteshwar Pujara was down by two places to 17th as India recorded four batsmen inside the top 20 in ICC Test Rankings.