Experienced India performers make rankings rise following Australia series

Dubai: A host of India stars have been rewarded for their excellent performances during the recently completed Border-Gavaskar series against Australia by making good ground on the latest ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings.

Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was named Player of the Series for his 25 wickets at an average of 17.28 and that helped the 36-year-old regain sole ownership of the No.1 spot for Test bowlers ahead of England seamer James Anderson.

Teammate Virat Kohli was the big mover on the Test batter charts following his drought-breaking century during the fourth Test of the series in Ahmedabad, with the former India skipper jumping seven places to 13th overall.

Kohli broke a 1205-day drought without a Test century when he hit a superb 186 in the drawn final match of the series, with the right-hander now on the heels of teammates Rishabh Pant (ninth) and Rohit Sharma (10th) as India players ahead of him on the Test batter rankings.

Axar Patel's good series with the bat did not go unnoticed, with the left-hander moving up eight places to 44th on the list for batters and jumping one place to fourth overall on the list for all-rounders following an impressive 264 runs over the four matches.

Australia players also made eye-catching moves, with experienced opener Usman Khawaja improving two spots to seventh on the Test batter rankings following a series-high 333 runs and emerging all-rounder Cameron Green jumping 11 places to 26th on the list for batters after he scored his maiden Test century in the fourth Test.

Travis Head's topsy-turvy series ended well with the left-handed, recently turned opener maintaining his fifth place on the rankings for Test batters at a new career high of 853 rating points.

There was some other movement on the list for Test batters following the first match of Sri Lanka's series in New Zealand and the completion of South Africa's home series against the West Indies.

New Zealand captain Tim Southee rises six places to 12th on the list for Test bowlers following a seven-wicket haul for the match against Sri Lanka in Christchurch, while teammate Daryl Mitchell improves four places to eighth on the Test batter rankings after scores of 102 and 81 against the island nation.

There was a boon for South Africa's bevy of stars following their series sweep over the West Indies, with new captain Temba Bavuma rising 14 places to 15th overall on the list for Test batters and teammate Aiden Markram improving 11 spots to 22nd.

The form of Kyle Mayers may have been the biggest positive to come from the series for the Caribbean side, with the right-armer jumping 10 places to 32nd on the list for Test bowlers and three spots to seventh overall on the list for all-rounders.

There was some rankings joy in the shortest format for Bangladesh players too, following their impressive 3-0 series sweep over reigning ICC Men's T20 World Cup champions England on home soil.

Aggressive left-hander Najmul Hossain Shanto shot up 68 spots to 16th overall on the list for T20I batters, while experienced opener Litton Das improved nine places to 22nd after his match-winning half-century in the third and final game of the series in Mirpur.

Left-arm quick Mustafizur Rahman moves up 16 places to 20th overall on the T20I rankings for bowlers, while inspirational skipper Shakib Al Hasan improves nine spots to equal 24th on the same list.