Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha achieve career-best Test rankings
Not a single Indian features in the top-20 of ICC's batting chart but Cheteshwar Pujara, who struck a doubled hundred in the Ahmedabad Test, has rocketed 35 places to the 24th position.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: November 20, 2012 12:17 PM IST
Following his match winning knock of 206 runs in the Ahmedabad Test against England, India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has rocketed 35 places to 24th position in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen.
India defeated England by nine wickets in Ahmedabad, with Pujara picking up the man of the match award. But he is not the only Indian to have moved up in the Test rankings.
While Virender Sehwag is now 22nd after gaining one place following his 23rd Test century, India's left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha is leading the bowlers' charge.
The 26-year-old, who recorded match figures of 77.2-24-165-9, has broken into the top five for the first time in his career after jumping nine places in the bowler rankings.
On Monday, Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 10 wickets in Galle, with Rangana Herath collecting the player of the match award, and on Saturday Kieran Powell was adjudged man of the match in Mirpur where the West Indies overpowered Bangladesh by 77 runs.
Herath has achieved a career-best rating of 828 points on the 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 ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.
But Pujara and Powell are not the only batsmen to make upward movements in latest rankings which were released on Monday evening.
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, while 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 85th spot to 69th position.
Meanwhile, South Africa's Jacques Kallis will enter the Adelaide Test against Australia as the number-one ranked Test all-rounder, while team-mates Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander will have opportunities to top the batting and bowling tables, respectively.
Kallis has regained the number-one ranking after Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan conceded 21 ratings points and slipped one place to second position after scoring 91 runs and taking two wickets against West Indies. Also losing ground is England's Stuart Broad, who has dropped behind New Zealand's fourth-ranked Daniel Vettori.
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.
Philander is 19 ratings points behind Steyn, who has been holding the number-one spot since July 2009. Philander has played a total of 11 Tests, in which he has taken 63 wickets. As such, he is still in the qualification period for bowlers as a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
This means Philander could potentially overtake number one Steyn, depending on how both the bowlers perform in Adelaide.