Dubai: Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen, ending Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s stay at the head of the table.

Sangakkara has so far scored 416 runs in the first two Tests of the ongoing series against Pakistan, earning him 113 points to take him past Chanderpaul who had led by six ratings points. The 34-year-old left-hander followed an unbeaten 199 in Galle with 192 at the SSC, which earned him 42 points to put him 36 points ahead of Chanderpaul and just eight points shy of hitting the 900-mark once again. AB de Villiers is in third place, 35 points behind Chanderpaul, while Jacques Kallis is fourth, with 819.

Sangakkara’s career-best 938 ratings points, which he achieved against England in Kandy in 2007, has already put him alongside Sir Garry Sobers in sixth position on the ICC best-ever Test Championship list. The last time Sangakkara reached No. 1 was in November 2011.

Other batsmen on the move include Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali who scored big hundreds in the second Test in Colombo. Dilshan scored 121 in second-wicket stand of 225 with Sangakkara and jumped five places to reach 23rd position. Hafeez’s career-best 196 earned him 44 points and moved him to 30th place, while his partner in a 287-run second-wicket alliance at the SSC, Ali, gained 39 points from his 157 and moved six places to 13th position on the table for Test batsmen.

On the bowling front, the only significant jumps were from Pakistan’s left-arm fast bowler and Man of the Match in Colombo, Junaid Khan. His 5 for 73 ensured a move of 17 places to 42nd place in the bowlers’ list. Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman’s five wickets in the SSC Test saw him climb two spots to 11th.

The bowlers’ list is headed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn with Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal in second position.

Source : CricketNext