Ashwin replaces Shakib as top Test allrounder

Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan’s reign as the number-one Test allrounder came to an end when Ravichandran Ashwin of India went to the top-spot on the back of series winning performances against South Africa at home.

Ashwin scored 56 in his only innings, which has helped him move up five places to 46th as a Test batsman.

With the ball, Ashwin returned figures of two for 26 and five for 61, and though his performance has helped him gain 15 points to reduce the gap with table-topper Dale Steyn to just four points, it has allowed him to move ahead of Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan as the new number-one ranked Test all-rounder, reports ICC’s media release.

Ashwin now has 406 ranking points to Shakib’s 384.

Meanwhile, Australia hosts the West Indies in a three-Test series while New Zealand takes on Sri Lanka in a two-Test series. Both series will start in Hobart and Dunedin, respectively, from Thursday.

Australia currently sits in third position, but will move ahead of second-ranked India if it wins all three Tests. Similarly, if sixth-ranked New Zealand wins both the Tests, then it will swap places with fifth-ranked England. In the scenario of Sri Lanka winning both the Tests, it will rise to sixth while New Zealand will slip to seventh.

ICC Test Championship (as on 8 December, before the start of Australia-West Indies and New Zealand-Sri Lanka Test series)

Rank   Team         Points

1          South Africa     114

2          India               110

3          Australia          109

4          Pakistan           106

5          England          99

6          New Zealand   95

7          Sri Lanka        93

8          West Indies     76

9          Bangladesh     47

10        Zimbabwe       5