Ashwin loses six points, joint number one Test bowler with Anderson

India’s top off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has lost six places in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) rankings released on Wednesday but remains joint number one Test bowler with England pacer James Anderson.

Ashwin reached number one in the Test bowling rankings last week. He took only four wickets in both the innings of the third Test cricket match against Australia at Indore. Australia won the match by nine wickets, their first win on Indian soil since 2017. Ashwin now has 859 points, the same as Anderson, and is joint-top.

The competition to become the world’s number one Test bowler has intensified as Australia captain Pat Cummins, South African pacer Kagiso Rabada and Australian spinner Nathan Lyon are not far behind the top-ranked bowlers. Cummins, who opted out of the last two matches of the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy due to personal reasons, has 849 points and is in third place.

Meanwhile, Rabada, who took eight wickets in the first Test against the West Indies, has climbed three places to reach the fourth position. He has 807 marks. Australian spinner Leon has moved up five places to ninth position after taking 11 wickets in Indore. Australia opener Usman Khawaja has moved up two places to ninth in the batting rankings.