Murali Vijay moves to career best 43rd spot in ICC rankings

Courtesy his 153-run knock against Australia in the Mohali Test, India opener Murali Vijay has jumped 16 places to career-best ranking.

Dubai: Courtesy his 153-run knock against Australia in the Mohali Test, India opener Murali Vijay has jumped 16 places to career-best rank of the 43rd but Cheteshwar Pujara dropped out of top-10 in the latest ICC rankings for Test batsmen.

Shikhar Dhawan, who hit a breathtaking 187 on debut to set up India`s six-wicket victory in Mohali, has entered the rankings in 61st position. Virat Kohli also achieved his career-best rank of 20th by gaining four places. Pujara, ranked 12th after sliding down two positions, and Kohli are the only Indian batsmen inside top-20 as Sachin Tendulkar has lost two positions to be 21st. Outside the top-20, the batsmen to move upwards include Australia’s David Warner in 29th (up by one), Ed Cowan in 38th (up by seven) and team mate Phil Hughes in 50th (up by four). The batting table is still headed by South Africa?s Hashim Amla with his teammate AB de Villiers sitting in second place and West Indies? Shivnarine Chanderpaul in third position. Australia captain Michael Clarke is now ranked fourth after dropping 21 ratings points and two places following the Mohali Test. In the Player Rankings for Test bowlers, India`s Ravindra Jadeja has moved to 35th place with a jump of six places. R Ashwin (8), Pragyan Ojha (9) and out-of-action Zaheer Khan (16) remain unchanged in the ranking chart. The bowlers’ table is still headed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn with his teammate Vernon Philander in second place and Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal in third. There is no change to the top three in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders with Bangladesh`s Shakib Al Hasan sitting in top spot, followed by South Africa`s Jacques Kallis in second place and India`s Ravichandran Ashwin sharing third place with Vernon Philander. PTI