Pujara and Ashwin on the rise in Reliance ICC Player Rankings

Thursday, 7 March 2013 00:50 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

India players have reaped the rewards for an innings and 135 runs win over Australia in the second Test in Hyderabad by making a charge on the latest Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings, which were released on Tuesday.

The biggest gains have been made by batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who have achieved their career-best rankings in batting and bowling respectively.

Pujara, named player of the match for his double-century in the second Test, has jumped 12 places to a career-best 11th position, while Ashwin, who had match figures of six for 104, is now at a best-ever eighth spot, having jumped three positions.

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, second-ranked Australia captain Michael Clarke has dropped three ratings points and now trails number-one ranked Hashim Amla by 13 ratings points.

Matthew Wade also moved to 52nd (up by four) and Murali Vijay, the other Test centurion in Hyderabad, has jumped 27 places to 60th.

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Australia’s fast bowler James Pattinson has broken into the top 20 in 20th position (up by one), while other bowlers to improve their rankings include Harbhajan Singh in 25th (up by one), Ravindra Jadeja in 40th (up by 23) and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in 97th (up by 28).

The bowlers’ table is still headed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn with his teammate Vernon Philander in second place and Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal in third place.