Australia Vs India: Cheteshwar Pujara breaks into top five of ICC Test batsmen's rankings

New Delhi, Dec 11: India's top-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara broke into the top five of the ICC Test Rankings after his match-winning knocks of 123 and 71 in Adelaide Test against Australia.

Pujara leap-frogged England's Joe Root and David Warner to move to No.4 in the in the latest rankings. While New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson moved up one spot to the No.2 and also achieved 900+ rating points after his heroics against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. He's now the first from his country to get past 900 rating points.

India tour of Australia: Full Schedule

Williamson is now only behind India's Virat Kohli - who sits comfortably at the top of the table. Williamson scored 89 and 139 in the third and final Test against Pakistan to put his team on course for a historic Test series win on Asian soil. It propelled him to a career-high total of 913 rating points, just seven behind India skipper Virat Kohli.

Henry Nicholls, who also scored a century in the same innings, jumped eight places to break into the top 10 at No.9, while BJ Watling moved up four places to No.22.

For his 194 gritty runs that turned the match, Cheteshwar Pujara is Player of the Match! #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/wjI6Y6TxLR

— ICC (@ICC) December 10, 2018

Apart from Pujara, other Indians made waves in the latest rankings. Ajinkya Rahane rose two spots to the 17th position after his knock of 70 in India's second innings and knocks of 25 and 28 helped Rishabh Pant jump seven places to No.59.

Indian openers, KL Rahul and Murali Vijay, and middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma, all dropped in their rankings following their poor show in the opening Test. Lokesh Rahul slipped two positions to No. 26, Vijay three to No.45 and Rohit dropped four places to No.53.

For Pakistan, valiant centurions Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq made gains. Ali rose two places to No.10 and Shafiq climbed one spot to No.21. Babar Azam, who made a fighting 51 in Pakistan's second innings, also rose three places to No.35.

However, all of Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez and Imam-ul-Haq suffered failures and it reflected in the rankings update. Hafeez - the Abu Dhabi Test was his last - slipped seven spots to No.65, while skipper Ahmed and opener Imam lost one place each to reach No.32 and No.97 respectively.

Australia, meanwhile, had mixed results. Usman Khawaja slipped three spots to 13th, and Aaron Finch dropped to No.89. Shaun Marsh rose six places to 38th, Tim Paine four spots to No.55 and Travis Head a massive 17 places to No.80.

Nathan Lyon was rewarded for his unbeaten knocks of 24 and 38 with a 17-place leap to no.130.