Warner, Younus Khan move up in ICC rankings

Dubai, Oct 27 (IANS) Hundreds in both innings during Pakistan's win over Australia in the first Test helped former captain Younus Khan jump four places to seventh while Aussie opener David Warner moved up to a career-high fourth position in the latest ICC batting and bowling rankings released here Monday.

Pakistan blitzed Australia by 221 runs with Younus Khan recording two centuries in the match while Warner, another centurion in the Dubai Test, smashed his way to 133 runs off 174 balls to move up a place.

There are no Indians in the top 10 list of both batsmen and bowlers.

Warner now has West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul firmly in his sights as only 12 ratings points separate the two left-handers.

Among other big movers, Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed and opener Ahmed Shehzad, who scored 109 and 131 respectively, have also made impressive gains. 

Sarfraz, whose innings of 109 helped Pakistan score 454 after being put into bat, rose 12 places to 38th, while Shehzad’s contribution of 131 in the second innings that allowed the home side to declare its second innings at 286 for two to set Australia a victory target of 438, helped him rocket 14 places to 52nd.

In the rankings for bowlers, Pakistan’s spin duo of Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah have stormed up the charts.

Zulfiqar, who returned match figures of seven for 155, jumped 46 places to claim 51st spot, while Yasir reached the 62nd place following figures of three for 66 and four for 50.

Australia’s Mitchell Johnson has also been rewarded for his contribution of three wickets in the match and scores of 37 and 61. 

He has now moved ahead of England’s Stuart Broad in fourth position in the all-rounders' rankings, which continue to be topped by India's Ravichandran Ashwin.