Ashwin, Williamson challenge top rankings spots

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson have each climbed into second place on the ICC bowling and batting rankings respectively following the first Test in Kanpur.

Quick Single: Australia v Ireland

Ashwin took 10 wickets as India claimed a 197-run victory in the series opener, his match-winning performance enough to see him edge past England quick James Anderson by a single rankings point.

The 30-year-old off-spinner, who is also the world's No.1 ranked Test allrounder, is now just seven points short of Proteas paceman Dale Steyn, who sits atop the ICC bowling chart.

Top 10 Test bowlers: 1. Dale Steyn (SA, 878pts). 2. Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind, 871). 3. James Anderson (Eng, 870). 4. Stuart Broad (Eng, 836). 5. Rangana Herath (SL, 831). 6. Yasir Shah (SL, 806). 7. Ravindra Jadeja (Ind, 798). 8. Mitchell Starc (Aus, 792). 9. Neil Wagner (NZ, 746). =10. Vernon Philander (SA) and Trent Boult (NZ, 723).

Williamson, who made 75 and 25 in Kanpur, also climbed one spot, jumping England's Joe Root by a point.

The Black Caps skipper is now 27 points short of Australia captain Steve Smith, but has another two Tests in this current series to bridge the gap before the Aussies play their next Test – against South Africa on November 3 at the WACA in Perth.  

There were other significant moves in the wash-up of the India-NZ Test, with man of the match Ravindra Jadeja leapfrogging Australia quick Mitchell Starc into seventh position on the bowling chart.

Top 10 Test batters: 1. Steve Smith (Aus, 906). 2. Kane Williamson (NZ, 879). 3. Joe Root (Eng, 878). 4. Hashim Amla (SA, 847). 5. Younis Khan (Pak, 845). =6. Adam Voges (Aus) and AB de Villiers (SA, 802). 8. David Warner (Aus, 772). 9. Alastair Cook (Eng, 770). 10. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak, 764).

Kiwis allrounder Mitchell Santner, who was playing his first Test in India, jumped 12 places into 47th among Test bowlers after collecting five wickets for the match.

Indian batsmen Murali Vijay (65 and 76) and Cheteshwar Pujara (62 and 78) each climbed four places to sit in equal 16th among batsmen, while Ajinkya Rahane dropped three places to fall outside the top 10 into 11th position.

India captain Virat Kohli also slipped, the superstar batsman's double of 9 and 18 seeing him lose four places to sit in 20th position.

In the ICC Test Championship race, India now need to win one of the final two Tests to regain top spot from arch-rivals Pakistan.