De Villiers returns to the top of the world
- Only 44 points separate the top seven batsmen
- Career-best rankings for Williamson, Vijay and Elgar as Smith, Kohli, Taylor and du Plessis
- Ashwin back in the top five while Starc, Jadeja, Mishra, Imran and Marsh achieve career-high rankings
South Africa’s AB de Villiers has surged to the top of the batting chart in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings, which were updated on Tuesday following the conclusion of the Brisbane and Mohali Tests.
De Villiers had achieved the number-one batting position for the first time in March 2012 and last was at the summit earlier this year in January, before he was overtaken by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara following his 203 against New Zealand in Wellington.
De Villiers scored 63 and 16 against India in the Mohali Test and has leapfrogged Australia captain Steven Smith, who scored 48 and one against New Zealand in Brisbane.
De Villiers now leads Smith by just one point but the rise of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and David Warner of Australia means the top seven batsmen are now separated by just 44 points.
This means there will potentially be further reshuffle at the top of the order, depending on how the remaining five Tests pan out.
Williamson scored 140 and 59, and has been rewarded with a jump of two places, which has put him in fifth position for the first time in his career. Warner’s two centuries in the Brisbane Test have also lifted him two places to seventh spot.
India’s Murali Vijay and South Africa’s Dean Elgar are the other top-ranked batsmen to achieve career high rankings - Vijay’s 75 and 47 has vaulted him eight places to 11th position, meaning that he has now become
India’s highest-ranked batsman. Cheteshwar Pujara has gained five places following his contribution of 31 and 77 but he is still two places behind Vijay in 13th spot.
Elgar has moved up four places to 34th and is one of four batsmen outside the top 20 to achieve career-best rankings, with the others being Adam Voges at 44th (up by five places), Joe Burns at 47th (up by 56 places) and Mark Craig at 57th (up by eight places).
Batsmen sliding in the latest rankings following the Brisbane and Mohali Tests include Virat Kohli at 16th (down by five places), Ross Taylor at 17th (down by four places), Ajinkya Rahane at 24th (down by three places), BJ Watling at 25th (down by two places) and Shikhar Dhawan at 38th (down by eight places).
In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Dale Steyn remains the number-one ranked bowler but following Ravichandran Ashwin’s five for 51 and three for 39, the India off-spinner has returned to the top five after rising three places.
Mitchell Starc’s four for 57 and two for 69 has helped the left-arm fast bowler achieve a career-best ranking of 13th after moving up seven places, while India’s left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja has rocketed 10 places to a career-high 21st position following match figures of eight for 76 that also earned him the player of the Mohali Test award.
Amit Mishra at 34th (up by three places), Imran Tahir at 51st (up by nine places) and Mitchell Marsh at 58th (up by 14 places) are the other bowlers to achieve career-best rankings.
There is no change in the list of top three all-rounders, which is still headed by Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh, though Starc has moved up two places to seventh and Jadeja has climbed10 places to 13th in what are career-high gains for both players.
ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 10 November, after Brisbane and Mohali Tests)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge HS Ranking
1 (+1) AB de Villiers SA 891 51.92 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
2 (-1) Steven Smith Aus 890 55.15 936 v Eng at Lord's 2015
3 ( - ) Joe Root Eng 886 54.90 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
4 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 870 52.00 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
5 (+2) Kane Williamson NZ 863! 47.19 863 v Aus at Brisbane 2015
6 (-1) Angelo Mathews SL 851 51.43 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
7 (+2) David Warner Aus 847 49.10 880 v Ind at Adelaide 2014
8 (-2) Younus Khan Pak 826 53.94 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
9 (-1) Alastair Cook Eng 803 47.47 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
10 ( - ) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 764 48.89 842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014
Selected Rankings (top 60)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge HS Ranking
11 (+8) Murali Vijay Ind 738! 42.36 738 v SA at Mohali 2015
13 (+5) C. Pujara Ind 725 49.48 851 v SA at Durban 2013
15 ( - ) B. McCullum NZ 716 38.81 760 v SL at Christchurch 2014
16 (-5) Virat Kohli Ind 707 44.12 784 v NZ at Wellington 2014
17 (-4) Ross Taylor NZ 696 44.39 871 v WI at Hamilton 2013
20 (-4) Faf du Plessis SA 664* 48.25 710 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014
24 (-3) Ajinkya Rahane Ind 636* 41.51 699 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2015
25 (-2) BJ Watling NZ 627 39.95 644 v Eng at Headingley 2015
34 (+4) Dean Elgar SA 548*! 38.30 548 v Ind at Mohali 2015
35 (+2) Tom Latham NZ 547* 39.39 569 v Pak at Dubai 2014
38 (-8) Shikhar Dhawan Ind 539* 41.35 593 v SL at Galle 2015
42 (-2) JP Duminy SA 519 35.55 586 v SL at Galle 2014
44 (+5) Adam Voges Aus 508*! 56.50 508 v NZ at Brisbane 2015
47 (+56) Joe Burns Aus 467*! 57.66 467 v NZ at Brisbane 2015
51 (-3) R. Ashwin Ind 454 32.17 527 v Eng at Old Trafford 2014
57 (+8) Mark Craig NZ 427*! 42.81 427 v Aus at Brisbane 2015
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Econ HS Ranking
1 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 902 22.56 909 v WI at Centurion 2014
2= ( - ) James Anderson Eng 846 28.96 847 v WI at Barbados 2015
( - ) Yasir Shah Pak 846*! 24.17 846 v Eng at Sharjah 2015
4 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 840 29.12 852 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
5 (+3) R. Ashwin Ind 797 27.54 808 v WI at Mumbai 2013
6 (-1) Trent Boult NZ 784 28.19 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
7 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 769 22.08 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
8 (-2) Mitchell Johnson Aus 767 28.10 849 v Pak at Dubai 2014
9 ( - ) Rangana Herath SL 751 29.49 851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014
10 (+1) Morne Morkel SA 698 29.66 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
Selected Rankings (top 60):
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Econ Highest Ranking
11 (-1) Tim Southee NZ 694 31.89 799 v WI at Jamaica 2014
13 (+7) Mitchell Starc Aus 652*! 31.03 652 v NZ at Brisbane 2015
17 ( - ) Nathan Lyon Aus 629 33.93 648 v Eng at Melbourne 2013
18 (-2) Josh Hazlewood Aus 625* 23.44 634 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2015
21 (+10) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 600*! 27.22 600 v SA at Mohali 2015
34 (+3) Amit Mishra Ind 436*! 35.21 436 v SA at Mohali 2015
40 (-1) Mark Craig NZ 399* 42.80 404 v Eng at Headingley 2015
42 ( - ) Umesh Yadav Ind 379* 38.95 412 v Aus at Melbourne 2014
47 (-6) Doug Bracewell NZ 366* 38.20 538 v WI at Jamaica 2012
51 (+9) Imran Tahir SA 358*! 42.16 358 v Ind at Mohali 2015
58 (+14) Mitchell Marsh Aus 306*! 30.83 306 v NZ at Brisbane 2015
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 384 419 v Zim at Khulna 2014
2 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 362 419 v WI at Mumbai 2013
3 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 317\*/ 376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014
