ICC Test Player Rankings: Nathan Lyon roars into top 10, Virat Kohli slips one place

New Delhi: Australian offie Nathan Lyon moved nine places up to attain his career-best rank of eight in the latest ICC Player Rankings, after an impressive six-wicket haul against Bangladesh at Chittagong that helped the home team pull back a draw in the two-match Test series. However, India skipper Virat Kohli, lost one place to David Warner to move to rank six.

Lyon finished Day four action of the second Test match with a career-best figure of 13/154. In total, the off-spinner sclaped 22 wickets in the two-match series, equalling Shane Warne's record, but missing top position (Rangana Herath) only by a mark. Adding to it, the 29-year-old accounted a tally of 46 Test wickets in 2017 and thereby edged past Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja (both scalped 44 wickets). Ergo, tallying it all up to a career-best rank of eight with 752 points.

On the bowler's rankings chart, Jadeja still holds top position with 884 points, followed by England paceman James Anderson (868), who is still on the cusp of 500 Test wickets. Ashwin is at three with 852 points.

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Avge     Highest Rating

   1       ( - )       R. Jadeja          Ind        884      23.60    899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017

   2       ( - )       J. Anderson      Eng      868      27.74    884 v SL at Durham 2016

   3       ( - )       R. Ashwin         Ind        852      25.26    904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

   4       ( - )       R. Herath          SL        809      28.25    867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   5       ( - )       J. Hazlewood    Aus      794      25.75    863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

   6       ( - )       K. Rabada        SA        785*     24.56    821 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   7       ( - )       Dale Steyn        SA        763      22.30    909 v Win at Centurion 2014

   8       (+9)      Nathan Lyon      Aus      752!     31.83    752 v Ban at Chittagong 2017

   9       (-1)       V.Philander       SA        751      22.45    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

  10       (-1)       Stuart Broad     Eng      747      28.81    880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016 

Another Australian, David Warner, who notched up two back-to-back centuries in the Test series agianst Bangladesh, moved one place up to the fifth spot and now has a total of 807 points. But India skipper Virat Kohli, who had a rampaging series against Sri Lanka, lost one place and slipped to the sixth spot, just one point behind the Aussie.

Leading the batsmen's list is Aussie skipper Steve Smith with 936 points, followed by England captain Joe Root with 902 points. Two other Indian on the top-10 list are Cheteshwar Pujara at position four with 876 points and then Lokesh Rahul at position 10 with 761 points.

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts       Avge   Highest Rating

   1       ( - )       Steve Smith      Aus      936      59.66   941 v Ind at Dharamsala 2017

   2       ( - )       Joe Root          Eng      902      54.30   917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3       ( - )       K. Williamson    NZ        880      51.16   893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   4       ( - )       C. Pujara           Ind        876      52.65   888 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017

   5       (+1)      David Warner    Aus      807      47.94   880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   6       (-1)       Virat Kohli         Ind        806      49.55   895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   7       ( - )       Azhar Ali           Pak      769      46.86   787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

   8       ( - )       Alastair Cook    Eng      765      46.59   874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012

   9       ( - )       Hashim Amla     SA        764      49.00   907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

  10       ( - )       Lokesh Rahul    Ind        761*!    46.27   761 v SL at Pallekele 2017 

Shakib Al Hasan with his splendid performance both with the willow and with the ball, strengthened his position atop on the ICC Test Rankings for all-rounders. Ravindra Jadeja folows him with 430 points and then comes Ashwin with 422 points.  

All-rounders (top five)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts       Highest Rating

   1       ( - )       S. Al Hasan       Ban      456      489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017

   2       ( - )       R. Jadeja          Ind        430      438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017

   3       ( - )       R. Ashwin         Ind        422      493 v Eng at Mohali 2016

   4       ( - )       Moeen Ali         Eng      392      409 v SA at Old Trafford 2017

   5       ( - )       Ben Stokes       Eng      360/*    362 v SA at The Oval 2017