Sangakkara replaces Tendulkar as number one Test batsman

DUBAI - Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara Monday replaced India’s Sachin Tendulkar to be the number one batsman in the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings.

Sangakkara, who reached the top spot after scoring an impressive 150 runs against the West Indies in the ongoing home series, has 882 rating points in comparison to Tendulkar’s 859. Dashing Indian opener Virender Sehwag is at third place with 850 points.

South Africans Jacques Kallis (806 pts) is at fourth place while AB de Villiers (793) has leapfrogged to 5th from 13th position after his innings of 287 not out against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.

India’s Zaheer Khan (743) has touched a career high ranking of three in the bowlers rankings.

Zaheer’s rise can be attributed to his figures of 4-90 against New Zealand in the second Test match at Hyderabad.

Australia’s hat-trick hero Peter Siddle (621) and England’s Steven Finn (552) have also climbed the rankings at the conclusion of the first Ashes Test. Siddle has risen to 14th after claiming 6-144 in the first Test while ICC ‘Young Player of the Year’ Finn has broken into the top-20 in 19th place after his six-wicket-haul.

Speedster Dale Steyn (860) of South Africa and England’s spinner Graeme Swann (831) are number one and two in the world.

There is no change in the rankings for Test all-rounders with Jacques Kallis still leading the field.

ICC Test Player Rankings

Batsmen

Rank

1 Kumar Sangakkara (SL)

2 Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

3 Virender Sehwag (Ind)

4 Jacques Kallis (SA)

5 AB de Villiers (SA)

6 S. Chanderpaul (WI)

7 M Jayawardena (SL)

8 Jonathan Trott (Eng)

9 Graeme Smith (SA)

10 T. Samaraweera (SL)

Bowlers

1 Dale Steyn (SA)

2 Graeme Swann (Eng)

3 Zaheer Khan (Ind)

4 Mohammad Asif (Pak)

5 James Anderson (Eng)

All-rounders

1 Jacques Kallis (SA)

2 Daniel Vettori (NZ)

3 Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)

4 Stuart Broad (Eng)

5 Shane Watson (Aus)