ICC Test ranking: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul move up as Team India retain top spot

Dubai: India top-order batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul surged in the ICC Test rankings for the batsmen when they moved up to 28^th and ninth spot respectively. Dhawan, who topped the table for most run-scorer in the Test series against Sri Lanka (358), snapped up two centuries in the three matches.

Rahul, who was making a comeback since playing the Test series against Australia this year, showcased a brilliant performance as he finished up with scores of 57 and 85 in the second and third Test respectively. Virat Kohli (5^th place), Cheteshwar Pujara (4^th place) and Ajinkya Rahane (10^th place) completes the four Indians who feature in the top 10 of the batsmen’s rankings.

The batsmen rankings continue to be led by Australia’s Steven Smith, with Joe Root and Kane Williamson in second and third place respectively.

While Ravindra Jadeja continues to top the bowlers’ charts, he slipped a place down to second in the all-rounders table, which is currently led by Shakib-al-Hasan with 431 points. Ravichandran Ashwin, who will be playing for Worcestershire in the English County Championship, was placed third in both the all-rounder’s list and the bowlers list.

India’s premium pacers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav climbed up one place to 19^th place and 21^st place.

Left-arm-chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who picked up four wickets in the third Test (4/40) climbed 29 places to 59^th spot, whereas Sri Lanka’s Lakshan Sandakan moved to No.57 in the bowler’s ranking.

In the team rankings, Virat Kohli’s Team India maintained the top spot with 125 rating points, and have taken a 15 point lead, with South Africa (110 points) in second, and England (105 points) in third spot. Captain Virat Kohli led from the front as he helped the Men in Blue win the Test series against Sri Lanka 3-0. As a result, the Ravi Shastri-coached team has prolonged their stay at the top.