Ravichandran Ashwin climbs up to the second spot in the latest Test ranking

India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has climbed one place up to reach the 2nd place in the latest MRF Tyres Test Player Rankings, which were released on Tuesday morning.

Ashwin’s match haul of 10-225, that helped India notch a 197-run victory in the first Test in Kanpur on Monday, has seen him overtake England’s James Anderson by one point. He is now within seven points of number-one ranked Dale Steyn of South Africa, who leads the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers with 878 points.

It is highly likely that Ashwin will claim the top position if he puts up another strong performance in the Kolkata Test, which starts on Friday. If he does so, he would see himself at the top of the bowling charts for the second time in 2016 after first claiming the number-one position last year following the Boxing Day Tests.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has also climbed up one place each to reach 2nd position among bowlers and batsmen. Williamson has similarly edged England’s Joe Root by one point with innings of 75 and 25 to reach 879 points in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, which is led by Australia captain Steve Smith with 906 points.

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However, to move ahead or edge even closer to Smith, Williamson will have to produce strong performances in the remaining two Tests.

Ashwin also contributed with a useful innings of 40 to consolidate his position at the top of the list of all-rounders. Ashwin has reached a career-best rating of 450, opening up a 66-point gap with second-placed Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.

There was not much to cheer for other New Zealand batsmen apart from Williamson, but for India, opener Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara made significant gains.

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Vijay and Pujara, who became the first Indian pair in 10 years to notch century partnerships in both innings of a Test match, moved up from joint-20th position to joint-16th position. Other Indian batsmen to move up were Lokesh Rahul, who gained five ranks to reach 57th position, and Rohit Sharma, who gained two slots to reach 52nd rank.