In place of England pacer James Anderson, veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin ascended to the top spot in the most recent ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings on Wednesday.
With India’s convincing victory over Australia in the second Test in New Delhi, Ashwin took the top rank with six wickets.
Anderson fell to second after England’s shocking defeat to New Zealand in the Wellington Test.
The 36-year-old Ashwin first won the top rank among Test bowlers in 2015 and has held it ever since, retaking it multiple times.
Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith were both dismissed by Ashwin in the same over of the first innings of India’s victory in Dehli, and he later returned to catch Alex Carey for a duck.
In the second innings, the off-spinner continued to dominate, picking up three of the top five hitters as his spin-bowling partner Ravindra Jadeja dispatched the remaining batters for Australia from the opposite end.
Ashwin, who still has 864 rating points, is now five rating points ahead of Anderson.
With Ashwin and Jadeja holding the top two spots in the Test All-Rounder Rankings, Jadeja’s 10 wickets in the second Test against Australia helped him rise to seventh place in the bowling rankings.
