Mahela jumps 7 places in ICC Test ranking

KARACHI: Sri Lanka's players have made impressive gains in the latest ICC Player Rankings for Tests released by International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday, following its nine-wicket win over Pakistan in the second Test in Dubai.

Leading the charge for Sri Lanka was former captain Mahela Jayawardena, also the player of the match in the Dubai Test.

Jayawardena, jumped seven places to 18th on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, to thereby return to the top 20, following his knock of 129 in the first innings.

The other Sri Lanka batsmen to move up are openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva.

Silva, who scored 95 and 58 in the Test, continued his impressive upward movement as he rocketed 55 places to a career-best 59th position. Karunaratne, who stroked an unbeaten 62 in the second innings to script Sri Lanka's chase, rose 21 places to a best-ever 79th.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan pace duo of Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal have made moved up on the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers.

Lakmal's match haul of six for 123 helped him rise 17 places to 66th. Eranga, on the other hand, jumped 12 places to a career-high of 45th.

Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath in fourth place is the highest ranked bowler on either side, with Saeed Ajmal closely following him in fifth place.

For Pakistan, captain Misbah-u-Haq in eighth place continues to be it's highest-ranked batsman. Misbah, who scored 97 in the second innings, however dropped six ratings points to finish on 798, 19 behind seventh-ranked Australia captain Michael Clarke.

Younus Khan, who dropped down a place to tenth, is the other Pakistan batsman in the top 10. Outside the top 20, the only positive for Pakistan was Khurram Manzoor's rise by five places to 60th.

Kumar Sangakkara in sixth, is still the highest ranked batsman on either side.

The batting table is still headed by South Africa's AB de Villiers with Shivnarine Chanderpaul in second place. The bowlers' table is topped by South African Vernon Philander, with teammate Dale Steyn in second position.