Rahul and Umesh reach career high Test rankings; Kohli and Pujara slip
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KL Rahul was the biggest mover in the new ICC Test rankings moving to a career-high 11th rank thanks to his six half-centuries in the recently concluded India-Australia Test series. On the bowling front too, India made a big leap with Umesh Yadav managing to reach a career-best ranking of 21.
Rahul scored an astonishing 393 runs in seven innings at an average of 65.50, including five half-centuries. After the series, he has established himself as the No. 1 opener in the Indian team. The result of his performances has seen him jump from No. 46, his ranking before the Australia series, to end up at 11th position on the list after the Dharamsala Test. But it wasn't all god news in the latest rankings with Cheteshwar Pujara (4) and Virat Kohli (5) losing two and one places respectively.
Australia captain Steve Smith, who has scored a whopping 499 runs in the series, has retained his number-one position in the batsman’s chart and is currently 61 rating points ahead of his New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, who has moved up two places to second following his 176 in the Hamilton Test against South Africa.
In the ICC Test bowling rankings, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin have retained their top two bowling spots while Umesh Yadav, who was one of India's best bowlers in the recently concluded series, like Rahul, has reached a career-high 21st position on the list.
After dethroning Ashwin as the top-ranked bowler, Jadeja has now overtaken Ashwin in the all-rounders’ ranking as well and is now only 9 rating points behind Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who tops the list. Jadeja took 25 wickets and scored 127 runs in the series against Australia and was named the player of the series for the first time in his career.
