The English all-rounder Moeen Ali along with Jos Buttler and Sam Curran have witnessed significant gains in the latest ICC Test rankings, after England’s series-clinching 60-run victory over India at Ageas Bowl in Southampton. Despite the loss, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli consolidated his position at the top of the batsmen’s rankings, that too with a career-high 937 points.
Much like the first Test of the series, at Headingley, this one was another close game, with India going down by just 60 runs in the end. The big star of the show for England was Ali, who played the first match of the series, yet picked nine wickets – 5/63 and 4/71. He was named the Player of the Match, and rose three places in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings for bowlers to No.33.
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With the bat, Curran was the pick of the batsmen as he played a match-winning knock of 78 in the first innings followed by a well supported 46 in the second innings. Apart from him, Buttler was the other one to have a big contribution – 69 in the second innings. Both of them moved up, Buttler took a lead of 15 places to No.32 with a career-high 584 points and Curran moved up 29 spots to No.43 with 545 points, also the best in his short career so far.
The batting chart, however, was still headed by Kohli, who scored 46 and 58 to take his series tally up to 544 runs – 284 more than second-placed Buttler’s 260. Unfortunately for his counterpart, the series hasn’t been as fruitful as Joe Root has aggregated just 194 runs in seven innings, and though he is still No.5 on the table, his points have been going down and he is at 809 now.
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Despite being on the losing side, Cheteshwar Pujara’s 132* has helped him to 798 points and stay put at sixth place on the batsmen’s rankings. On to the other hand, James Anderson is still leading charts despite the fact that he picked jus 2 wickets at the Ageas Bowl. He is now at 896 points after having reached a best of 903 following the second Test at Lord’s.
India’s premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin toiled away without much success as he picked up just three wickets in the Test and has slipped below Rangana Herath to No.8. Mohammed Shami was impressive in Southampton, especially in the second innings, as he returned 4/57. Add to that the 2/51 from the first innings, and he rose three spots to No.19.
