Ashwin retains second spot in ICC Test bowlers ranking

India's star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has retained his second position in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test bowlers' rankings on Thursday.

Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has returned among the top five of the Test bowlers after registering his seventh 10-wicket haul which helped Sri Lanka to win the third Test by 163 runs and a 3-0 series win against Australia.

Herath, 38, recorded figures of six for 81 and seven for 64 in the Colombo Test, which has helped him to move three places up to fifth in the latest rankings.

The bowlers' list is headed by England's James Anderson, who leads Ashwin by 12 points with 870 points. Dale Steyn, who will feature in the upcoming series against New Zealand, is third, 17 points behind the India off-spinner.

Colombo Test centurions Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva have also made significant gains in Test batsmen.

Chandimal raised six slots to reach the 17th spot in a list which is headed by Australia captain Steve Smith, while de Silva has shot up 30 places to the 37th position. Kaushal Silva, who scored 115 in the second innings, has also moved up nine places to 39th.

For Australia, opener David Warner has gained one place to share ninth spot with New Zealand's Ross Tyalor, while Shaun Marsh, who struck the first century for Australia on the Sri Lanka tour in Colombo, has jumped 13 places to reach the 33rd rank.

Smith, who scored 119 runs in the first innings, has retained his number-one ranking.

--IANS

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