India opener Gautam Gambhir has muscled his way into the top 10 of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for the first time in his career after a stellar performance against England in Mohali.
The 27-year-old, who made 179 and 97 in the Mohali Test, has jumped 10 places in the rankings to become the highest-ranked India batsman, at the 10th place.
Gambhir was in 37th place in October but had rocketed 27 places after scoring 824 runs in five Tests at an average of 82.4, an ICC release said on Wednesday.
While Gambhir has made movement in the right direction, his team-mates Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman have slipped in the latest rankings. Outside the top 20, Rahul Dravid has climbed two places to 28th while Yuvraj Singh has jumped 10 places to 46th, the release adds.
England captain Kevin Pietersen has returned to the top five for the first time in 14 months and now sits in fifth place after jumping three places due to a magnificent innings of 144.
Meanwhile, Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies has strengthened his hold on the top of the rankings by becoming only the 25th batsman in the history of Test cricket and the sixth West Indian to reach the magic 900-point mark.
The 34-year-old from Guyana, who won the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2008 award at the LG ICC Awards in Dubai, reached the milestone while making 126 not out in the first innings against New Zealand in the Napier Test which ended in a draw on Tuesday.Chanderpaul has been joined in the top 20 by his captain Chris Gayle who has climbed seven places to 20th after an impressive 197 in the second innings at Napier. It is the best ranking of his career to date.
Another new addition to the top 20 is South Africa’s AB de Villiers whose 63 and 106 not out was the cornerstone of South Africa’s six-wicket victory over Australia in a record final-innings run-chase of 414. This performance has lifted him seven places to 17th in the rankings.
There was no good news for Australia whose captain Australia captain Ricky Ponting has dropped three places to ninth – his lowest ranking since October 2002. Mike Hussey has slipped two places to sixth, Michael Clarke has dropped one place to 12th and Matthew Hayden has slipped three places to 16th.
For New Zealand, Ross Taylor remains the highest ranked batsman in 37th place while Jesse Ryder has made the biggest move by rising 15 places to 55th position after scoring 57 and 59 in the Napier Test.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson has broken into the top five for the first time after his man-of-the-match performance in the Perth Test.
No comments:
Post a Comment