Sri Lanka’s iconic spinner Muttiah Muralidaran retired from Test cricket on Thursday after dominating the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers for the best part of his glittering 18-year career.
The 38-year-old champion off-spinner, who finished with 800 wickets from 133 Tests, bowed out in third position behind Dale Steyn of South Africa and Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif after climbing two spots in the latest rankings following his figures of 5-63 and 3-128 which set-up a 10-wicket victory for Sri Lanka in the first Test of the three-match series in Galle.
The Kandy-born spinner had first surged to the top of the bowling rankings in January 2002 after his match figures of 9-91 which not only paved the way for Sri Lanka to make a clean sweep of the three-Test series against Zimbabwe but also made him the quickest bowler to reach 400 Test wickets.
He went on to spend a record 214 Tests and 1,711 days in number-one position. Australia’s former Test fast bowler Glenn McGrath has the second best record, having enjoyed the coveted No.1 ranking for 174 Tests.
Within a year of making his Test debut Test against Australia at Colombo, Muralidaran broke into the top 20 when he jumped to 19th position in September 1993 at P.Sara Oval in Colombo against South Africa and then never dropped out. The closest he came to slipping out of the top 20 was in March 1997 against New Zealand in Dunedin when he was briefly in 20th position.
Muralidaran’s rating was consistently above 800 and often above 900 ratings points, an indicator of sustained and outstanding performances.
His tally of 920 ratings points in July 2007 during the home series against Bangladesh marked his peak as a bowler. It is the fourth highest rating achieved to date by a bowler after Sydney Barnes (932), George Lohmann (931) and Imran Khan (922).
While his average career rating was 770, he is also the only Sri Lanka bowler to achieve more than 800 ratings points. His former team-mate Chaminda Vaas peaked at 800 in 2005.
Meanwhile, Lasith Malinga has returned to the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowler after his man of the match performance in Galle. The fast bowler took 7-105 and has re-entered in 25th position.
The bowlers dropping in the latest rankings include Ishant Sharma 22nd (down by one place), Rangana Herath 31st (down by six places) and Pragyan Ojha 58th (down by nine places).
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, India opener Gautam Gambhir, middle-order batsmen Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni have failed to retain their places.
Gambhir has slipped six places to 10th position, Laxman has fallen two places to 15th position, Dravid has dropped one place to 18th place while Dhoni has fallen four places to 40th spot.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has swapped places with his predecessor Mahela Jayawardena. India’s Virender Sehwag, who scored 109 and 31, has opened up a 14-point gap over second-placed Sangakkara.
ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 23 July, after the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Galle)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( – ) Virender Sehwag Ind 866! 53.78 866 v SL at Galle 2010
2 (+1) K.Sangakkara SL 852 55.44 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
3 (-1) M.Jayawardena SL 830 53.92 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
4 (+1) Michael Clarke Aus 818 50.96 855 v Eng at Headingley 2009
5= (+1) S.Chanderpaul WI 807 49.28 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
(+1) Simon Katich Aus 807! 47.67 807 v Pak at Lord’s 2010
7 (+1) S.Tendulkar Ind 795 55.48 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
8 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 791 55.07 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
9 (+1) Graeme Smith SA 787 50.49 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
10 (-6) G.Gambhir Ind 773 52.83 886 v SL at Kanpur 2009
11 ( – ) Ross Taylor NZ 766 43.13 775 v Pak at Wellington 2009
12 ( – ) AB de Villiers SA 762! 45.50 762 v WI at Bridgetown 2010
13 (+1) Younus Khan Pak 747 50.09 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
14 (+1) Hashim Amla SA 745 45.10 842 v Ind at Kolkata 2010
15 (-2) VVS Laxman Ind 740 46.62 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
16 ( – ) Ricky Ponting Aus 719 54.83 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
17 (+1) Tamim Iqbal Ban 707*! 40.13 707 v Eng at Old Trafford 2010
18 (-1) Rahul Dravid Ind 696 53.53 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
19 (+1) Mike Hussey Aus 689 52.21 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
20 (-2) T.Samaraweera SL 687 50.48 747 v Ind at Kanpur 2009
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 ( – ) Dale Steyn SA 887 23.13 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
2 ( – ) M.Asif Pak 787* 23.21 792 v Aus at Sydney 2010
3 (+2) M.Muralidaran SL 772 22.72 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
4 (-1) Graeme Swann Eng 761* 30.02 786 v Ban at Mirpur 2010
5 (-1) Mitchell Johnson Aus 757 28.53 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
6 ( – ) Morne Morkel SA 739*! 30.78 739 v WI at Bridgetown 2010
7 ( – ) Zaheer Khan Ind 722 32.98 729 v SA at Kolkata 2010
8 ( – ) Harbhajan Singh Ind 675 31.28 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
9 ( – ) James Anderson Eng 656 34.26 710 v Aus at Edgbaston 2009
10 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 640*! 32.52 640 v Eng at Old Trafford 2010
11 ( – ) Makhaya Ntini SA 638 28.82 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
12 ( – ) Stuart Broad Eng 626* 36.15 697 v SA at Durban 2009
13 ( – ) Daniel Vettori NZ 609 33.86 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
14 ( – ) Doug Bollinger Aus 602* 24.00 616 v NZ at Hamilton 2010
15 ( – ) Danish Kaneria Pak 593 34.21 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
16 ( – ) Jerome Taylor WI 580* 35.64 717 v Eng at Kingston 2009
17= ( – ) Peter Siddle Aus 579* 31.53 617 v Eng at The Oval 2009
( – ) Umar Gul Pak 579 33.83 627 v WI at Karachi 2006
19 ( – ) Paul Harris SA 576* 37.10 705 v Eng at Centurion 2009
20 ( – ) R.Sidebottom Eng 567* 28.24 769 v SA at Lord’s 2008
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( – ) Jacques Kallis SA 442 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( – ) Daniel Vettori NZ 393 412 v Pak at Napier 2009
3 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 334 /* 355 v Eng at Mirpur 2010
4 ( – ) Graeme Swann Eng 296*/* 327 v Ban at Chittagong 2010
5 ( – ) Dwayne Bravo WI 268 /* 295 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
*Indicates a provisional rating