Dubai: India’s left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja has joined West Indies’ off-spinner Sunil Narine on top of the bowlers’ rankings, while Sri Lanka’s left-handed batsman Kumar Sangakkara has equaled his career-high ranking in the latest Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings which were released on Sunday and reflect India’s 5-0 series win over Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka’s 4-1 series win over South Africa.
Jadeja has leapt four places to share the number-one spot with Narine after he claimed five wickets from five matches against Zimbabwe.
This is the first time Jadeja has topped the bowlers’ chart and is the first India bowler to head the table since former India captain Anil Kumble, who topped the table for 11 matches in November–December 1996.
Overall, Jadeja is the fourth India bowler after Kapil Dev (March 1989), Maninder Singh (December 1987-November 1988) and Kumble to claim the number-one spot in ODIs.
The series against Zimbabwe was also a big one for India’s leg-spinner Amit Mishra who has rocketed 47 places to 32nd spot after bagging a record 18 wickets.
In the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings for Batsmen, Sangakkara has achieved a career-best rating of 829 points and has equaled his best-ever ranking of third after finishing as the highest run-getter in the ODI series against South Africa.
Sangakkara, who last claimed third position in 2005, scored 372 runs from five matches at an average of 93.
Tillakaratne Dilshan is the other batsman to head in the right direction. The opener has gained two places and is now in sixth spot.
Others to make upward movements include Suresh Raina in 17th (up by one), Shikhar Dhawan in 23rd (up by 16), JP Duminy in 27th (up by three) and Lahiru Thirimanne in 52nd (up by 10).
The batting table is still headed by South Africa's Hashim Amla with his captain AB de Villiers in second place.
