Ravichandran Ashwin’s eight-wicket haul in India’s resound victory over South Africa in the first Test at Vizag has propelled the off-spinner back into the top-10 of the ICC rankings for bowlers.
Making only first Test appearance for India in 2019, the 33-year-old was in fine flow in the first innings at Vizag where he picked up seven wickets to set up a 203-run win for the hosts.
Ashwin’s exploits saw him equal Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan’s record of becoming the quickest in history to claim 350 Test dismissals with both the off-spinners attaining the feat in 66 matches apiece.
Ravi Ashwin is joint-fastest to 3️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ wickets alongside Muralitharan. Stuff of legends! 🔥 #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/Dvdexsmuyh
— Sport360° (@Sport360) October 6, 2019
With his prolific show at Vizag, Ashwin jumped four spots in the ICC Test rankings to claim the 10th position in the table, according to a report by ESPNcricinfo. Meanwhile, Ashwin’s India team-mate Rohit Sharma’s electric debut in the opening spot saw the right-hander make a leap of 36 spots to rise to a career-best 17th in the batsmen’s rankings.
Rohit became the first Indian opener after Sunil Gavaskar to notch up twin tons in the same Test with the 32-year-old scoring 176 and 127 in his two innings at Vizag. Australia’s Steve Smith continued to top the batting charts and his lead over Virat Kohli has now stretched to a whopping 38 rating points following the India skipper’s failure to score big against South Africa.
There was joy for Ashwin’s spin partner Ravindra Jadeja in the latest update as well with the southpaw overtaking Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan to the No2 spot in the ICC rankings for Test all-rounders. Ashwin is in fifth place in the same table which is currently led by West Indies skipper Jason Holder.
