The top-ranked off-spinner from India, Ravichandran Ashwin, dropped six rating points but was still ranked alongside England’s James Anderson as the best Test bowler in the ICC rankings issued on Wednesday. In the third Test against Australia in Indore, Ashwin, who last week rose to the top of the list of Test bowlers, only claimed four wickets in the two innings.
Australia’s victory was their first on Indian soil since 2017 and came by a margin of nine wickets. Ashwin and Anderson are now tied for first place with 859 points each, breaking the previous tie. The competition to become the best Test bowler in the world has also intensified, with South African speedster Kagiso Rabada, Australian captain Pat Cummins, and spinner Nathan Lyon in striking distance.
Cummins’ rating dropped to 849 points as he withdrew from the remaining two Tests of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series for personal reasons, but the pacer kept his position in third place. Rabada, a speed bowler for South Africa, moved up to fourth place and 807 rating points after taking eight wickets in their 87-run victory over the West Indies in the first Test at Centurion. With his match-winning 11-wicket haul in Indore, Australian spinner Lyon also made an eye-catching rise into the top 10, moving up five spots to ninth overall (769 rating points).
