Off-spinner R. Ashwin broke into the top 20 for the first time in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers released on Tuesday.
Virat Kohli vaulted 12 places to achieve a career-best ranking of 35 in the Test batsmen rankings.
Ashwin, who took 5/69 in New Zealand’s second innings on Monday, jumped seven places to a career-best 18th position.
The Chennai bowler finished the series with 18 wickets and gained 26 places on the bowlers’ table through the course of the series, as India whitewashed the Kiwis 2-0 in the two-match series.
Pragyan Ojha, who ended with a match haul of 7/148, moved up a place to career-best 14th.
Pace bowlers Zaheer Khan (15th) and Umesh Yadav (48th) slipped a place each.
South Africa’s Dale Steyn still leads the rankings for Test bowlers.
The other Indian batsman to make upward movement is Mahendra Singh Dhoni who moved up two places to 36th.
Batsmen losing ground after the Bangalore Test include Sachin Tendulkar in 16th (down by five), Virender Sehwag in 23rd (down by one), Gautam Gambhir in 38th (down by two) and Cheteshwar Pujara in 58th (down by two).
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara remains the top-ranked batsman.
Keywords: ICC Test rankings
virat kohli was a backbone of the Indian cricket team and he had excellent footwork,Ashwin also plays a crucial role
all the best to both guys
Great Bowling Ashwin...Keep Rocking
Even though Kohli, Dhoni and Pujara are doing well as batsmen, the others are failing. Both Gambhir and Sewhag should focus on T20s and ODIs. Both failed miserably in the last 10 Tests, with an average well below 50. As aggressive batsmen, they will do much better in the shorter format. Batsmen like Manoj Tiwary, M. Vijay, Irfan Pathan and Dinesh Karthik should be given opportunities to play Test cricket. They seem quite mature, restrained when needed and are excellent fielders - not to mention both Tiwary and Pathan can take wickets.
virat kholi will soon reach in top ten...
U both guys have a great future for sure.Especially virat kohli batted like a real leader in both the innings of second test. And for ashwin u have a great variations in ur bowling...ALL THE BEST INDIA.
Virat Kohli's batting was excellent........
and also ashwin bowling
Consistent good batting by Virat Kohli and equally consistent good bowling by Ashwin have helped the Indian team win matches many a time.No wonder they have gone up much higher in ICC rankings pretty early in their career! While Kohli is proving to be a good fielder too, Ashwin promises to become a very useful all-rounder. Let us wish them well.
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