Sri Lanka, India wins shake up Reliance ICC player rankings

There has been a significant shake-up in the Reliance ICC player rankings after the conclusion of the Ahmedabad, Galle and Mirpur Tests, while the second Test between Australia and South Africa, starting in Adelaide on Thursday, may lead to changes at the top of the batting and bowling tables.

India defeated England by nine wickets in Ahmedabad, with Cheteshwar Pujara picking up the man of the match award. Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 10 wickets in Galle, with Rangana Herath collecting the player of the match award, and Kieran Powell was adjudged man of the match in Mirpur where the West Indies overpowered Bangladesh by 77 runs.

Rangana Herath has achieved a career-best rating of 828 points on the Reliance ICC player rankings for Test bowlers following his match figures of 11 for 108, while Pujara and Powell have earned career-best rankings to storm up the Reliance ICC player rankings for Test batsmen.

England captain Alastair Cook, who scored a gutsy 176 in his side’s second innings, has returned to the top 10 by rising four places to seventh, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has jumped six places to 13th position after scoring a classy 91 in the first innings, Matt Prior has become the fifth England batsman inside the top 20 after achieving a career-best ranking of 18th.

Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews’ contribution of 79 runs in a 156-run sixth wicket partnership with Jayawardene has given him a career-best ranking of 28th, New Zealand’s Daniel Flynn’s contributions of 53 and 20 has allowed him to improve his ranking by five places and he is now in 63rd position, Denesh Ramdin’s third career century for the West Indies has vaulted him seven places to 68th position while Bangladesh’s Nasir Hossain’s effort of 96 and 21 has lifted him from the 85th spot to 69th position.

While Kallis will be eyeing to cement his number-one spot in the Adelaide Test, Amla will be aiming to leapfrog Sri Lanka’s number-one ranked Kumar Sangakkara, and Philander will have his new ball partner and number-one ranked Dale Steyn firmly within his sights.

Amla, who is already enjoying his career-best rating, trails Sangakkara by just four ratings points and a good performance with the bat will mean that he will become one of the very few batsmen to top both the Test and ODI batting tables at the same time.