Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara gained one spot each in new ICC Test rankings

India's Test specialist batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane moved up in the latest ICC Test rankings for batsmen released on Saturday. While Pujara leapfrogged Pakistan skipper Babar Azam to go to the sixth spot in the latest ICC Test batting rankings, Rahane has moved up a place to the eighth spot.

Pujara was one of the architects of India’s recent 2-1 series win in Australia. Pujara finished as the second-highest run-getter for India- 271 runs with 3 half-centuries- but more than the runs, it was the number of deliveries (928) that he ducked down that exemplifies his contribution.

India skipper Virat Kohli and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson have retained their fourth and first spot in the latest rankings while England all-rounder Ben Stokes



who was rested for Sri Lanka Tests has moved down two places to tenth position in the batting rankings.

Williamson (919) continued to lead the batting charts, with the Australian duo of Steve Smith (891) and Marnus Labuschagne (878) rounding up the top three while England skipper Joe Root (823) retained the fifth spot.

Among the bowlers, veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (760) and pace ace Jasprit Bumrah (757) retained their eighth and ninth spots respectively. Pat Cummins (908) continues to lead the chart followed by England pacer Stuart Broad (839) and New Zealand's Neil Wagner (835). England pacer James Anderson has jumped one spot to number six. Last week, Anderson went past Glenn McGrath's tally with his 30th five-wicket haul in Test cricket against Sri Lanka in Galle.