Sangakkara and Malik climb the table
Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and Shoaib Malik of Pakistan, the two century-makers in the drawn first Test in Colombo, have both made significant moves up the ICC Test batting rankings
Cricinfo staff
30-Mar-2006
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Malik's unbeaten 148, his maiden Test hundred spread over eight hours, not only helped save the match for his side but also propelled him up 24 places in those rankings and he now sits in 43rd place with a career-best tally.
Sangakkara, meanwhile, moved up six spots to 11th after his 185, to become Sri Lanka's highest-ranked batsman. He has overtaken the acting captain, Mahela Jayawardene, who has slipped two places to 13th in the list.
Pakistan still have three players among the top 10 batsmen. Inzamam-ul-Haq is unchanged in fourth place; Mohammad Yousuf, who missed the Test through injury, is seventh, and Younis Khan is eighth, down two spots after scores of 0 and 8 at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
Muttiah Muralitharan, who took six wickets in the Test, remains top of the bowling charts, clear of Australia's Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
With Pakistan's pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar (seventh) and Muralitharan's team-mate Chaminda Vaas (eighth) both absent through injury, the visitor's legspinner Danish Kaneria was the only other bowler on show in Colombo who features in the top 20. He is down one place to 15th position.
Further down the bowling table, Sri Lanka's young pace bowlers Farveez Maharoof and Lasith Malinga have both made positive strides. Maharoof is up 20 places to 68th and Malinga has risen four places to joint 29th (alongside Australia's Michael Kasprowicz). Both have career-best tallies.
Australia's captain Ricky Ponting heads the batting rankings ahead of team-mate Matthew Hayden and Jacques Kallis of South Africa. Kallis tops the allrounder table ahead of England's Andrew Flintoff.
The second and final Test of the series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan starts in Kandy on Monday.
For the full rankings click here