Gayle, de Villiers and Johnson achieve career-best rankings; Chanderpaul becomes 25th batsman in Test history to reach 900-point mark
India opener Gautam Gambhir has muscled his way into the top 10 of the Reliance
Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for the first time in his career after a stellar performance against England in Mohali.The 27-year-old from New Delhi made 179 and 97 and has jumped 10 places in the rankings to become the highest-ranked India batsman, in 10th place.
Gambhir was in 37th place in October but had rocketed 27 places after scoring 824 runs in five Tests at an average of 82.4.
While Gambhir has made movement in the right direction, his team-mates Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman have slipped in the latest rankings. Outside the top 20, Rahul Dravid has climbed two places to 28th while Yuvraj Singh has jumped 10 places to 46th.
England captain Kevin Pietersen has returned to the top five for the first time in 14 months and now sits in fifth place after jumping three places due to a magnificent innings of 144.
Meanwhile, Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies has strengthened his hold on the top of the rankings by becoming only the 25th batsman in the history of Test cricket and the sixth West Indian to reach the magic 900-point mark.
The 34-year-old from Guyana, who won the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2008 award at the LG ICC Awards in Dubai, reached the milestone while making 126 not out in the first innings against New Zealand in the Napier Test which ended in a draw on Tuesday.
Chanderpaul has been joined in the top 20 by his captain Chris Gayle who has climbed seven places to 20th after an impressive 197 in the second innings at Napier. It is the best ranking of his career to date.
Another new addition to the top 20 is South Africa’s AB de Villiers whose 63 and 106 not out was the cornerstone of South Africa’s six-wicket victory over Australia in a record final-innings run-chase of 414. This performance has lifted him seven places to 17th in the rankings.
There was no good news for Australia whose captain Australia captain Ricky Ponting has dropped three places to ninth – his lowest ranking since October 2002. Mike Hussey has slipped two places to sixth, Michael Clarke has dropped one place to 12th and Matthew Hayden has slipped three places to 16th.
For New Zealand, Ross Taylor remains the highest ranked batsman in 37th place while Jesse Ryder has made the biggest move by rising 15 places to 55th position after scoring 57 and 59 in the Napier Test.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson has broken into the top five for the first time after his man-of-the-match performance in the Perth Test.
The 27-year-old left-armer had match figures of 11-159 during Australia’s six-wicket defeat to South Africa but team-mate Brett Lee has dropped two places to seventh spot.
South Africa’s Makhaya Ntini recorded figures of 4-72 and 1-76 which have helped him rise to third place and is now just behind team-mate Dale Steyn who had figures of 4-162. The other big mover for South Africa was left-arm spinner Paul Harris who has rocketed 10 places to 27th position after taking 5-155 in the Perth Test.
India’s player of the series against England, Zaheer Khan, has gained two places in the rankings to 12th position while his team-mate Harbhajan Singh has gone up two places to eighth.
England’s Andrew Flintoff has jumped two places to 14th spot while off-spinner Graeme Swann has rocketed 14 places to 60th position but left-arm spinner Monty Panesar and fast bowler James Anderson have slipped two and four places respectively.
The bowlers’ list is still headed by Sri Lanka’s iconic spinner Muttiah Muralidaran.
There is no change in the top five in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders as South Africa’s Jacques Kallis enjoys a commanding lead over New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori.
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (as of 24 December)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 900 ! 49.71 900 v NZ at Napier 2008
2 ( - ) KSangakkara SL 886 54.79 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
3 ( - ) Mohd Yousuf Pak 880 55.49 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
4 (+1) M Jayawardena SL 837 52.41 847 v Ind at Colombo (SSC) 2008
5 (+3) Kevin Pietersen Eng 832 50.48 905 v WI at Headingley 2007
6 (-2) Mike Hussey Aus 803 61.56 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
7 ( - ) Yunus Khan Pak 799 49.14 856 v Eng at Headingley 2006
8 (+1) Graeme Smith SA 797 ! 50.42 797 v Aus at Perth 2008
9 (-3) Ricky Ponting Aus 778 56.74 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
10 (+10) Gautam Gambhir Ind 771*! 49.35 771 v Eng at Mohali 2008
11 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 759 55.11 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
12 (-1) Michael Clarke Aus 747 46.89 761 v Ind at Melbourne 2007
13 (-3) Virender Sehwag Ind 729 51.06 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
14 ( - ) Ashwell Prince SA 724 45.68 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
15 ( - ) Andrew Strauss Eng 705 42.37 769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005
16 (-3) Matthew Hayden Aus 701 51.34 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
17 (+7) AB de Villiers SA 692 ! 42.25 692 v Aus at Perth 2008
18= (-2) Sachin Tendulkar Ind 683 54.27 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
(-2) VVS Laxman Ind 683 44.45 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
20 (+7) Chris Gayle WI 670 ! 39.60 670 v NZ at Napier 2008
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) M Muralidaran SL 895 21.96 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
2 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 807 23.18 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
3 (+1) Makhaya Ntini SA 805 27.71 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
4 (-1) Stuart Clark Aus 798* 22.96 863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008
5 (+2) Mitchell Johnson Aus 779*! 27.11 779 v SA at Perth 2008
6 ( - ) Ryan Sidebottom Eng 723* 25.68 769 v SA at Lord's 2008
7 (-2) Brett Lee Aus 717 30.44 811 v WI at Antigua 2008
8 (+2) Harbhajan Singh Ind 686 30.88 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
9= (-2) Chaminda Vaas SL 684 29.31 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
(-2) Shoaib Akhtar Pak 684 25.69 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
11 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 653 33.09 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
12 (+2) Zaheer Khan Ind 630 34.04 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
13 (-1) Shane Bond NZ 629* 22.39 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
14 (+2) Andrew Flintoff Eng 621 32.12 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
15= (+2) Mohd Asif Pak 619* 23.13 710 v SA at Cape Town 2007
(-2) Monty Panesar Eng 619 32.88 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
17 (+1) Jerome Taylor WI 618* 35.14 628 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
18 (+1) Danish Kaneria Pak 614 33.90 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
19 (-4) James Anderson Eng 611 35.22 622 v Ind at Chennai 2008
20 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 603 30.90 742 v Eng at Headingley 2003
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 458 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 347 369 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 305 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
4 ( - ) Dwayne Bravo WI 283 /* 295 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
5 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 281 300 v WI at Guyana 2008
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