AB hits top of ICC Test batting rankings

De Villiers had achieved the No 1 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 No 1 ranked bowler but following Ravichandran Ashwin’s 5/51 and 3/39, the India off-spinner has returned to the top five after rising three places.
 

Mitchell Starc’s 4/57 and 2/69 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 up 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 T20I 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

Bowling Rankings 

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.

ANA