Kumar Sangakkara's historic effort lands him second place in ICC Test rankings

Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara’s historic effort of 424 runs in the second and final Test in Chittagong against Bangladesh has seen him jump five places to second in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen.

Sangakkara rewrote the history books with his knocks of 319 and 105 in either innings of the Chittagong Test. He became only the second player in history to score a triple hundred and hundred in the same Test. Overall, he became the fourth man in history to score 400 runs in one Test.

Sangakkara, named Player of the Match and Series, gained 58 ratings points for his effort. He is now three ratings points ahead of third-ranked Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and 33 behind number-one ranked AB de Villiers.

Meanwhile, Ross Taylor in fifth (down by two) and Cheteshwar Pujara in sixth (down by one) changed positions inside the top 10 at the end of the first Test in Auckland between India and New Zealand on Sunday.

New Zealand won the Auckland Test by 40 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series and the side now has three batsmen inside the top 20.

Alongside Taylor, the latest entrants in the top 20 are Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum, centurions in the Auckland Test. Williamson, who stroked 113 in the first innings, jumped four places to a career-high of 19th.

McCullum has jumped 15 places to return to the top 20 following his knock of 224, which also earned him the Player of the Match award. McCullum now sits in 20th place.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Trent Boult has risen three places to a career-best seventh in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, following his match haul of six for 124. Boult’s pace partner, Tim Southee has made it to the top 10 for the first time in his career. Southee notched up six for 119 in the Test and now sits in 10th place on the table (up four places).

Also in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan has moved up one place to 20th, to return to the top 20 in the bowlers’ table.

* – indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.

! – indicates career-highest rating