Rangana Herath and Kusal Mendis have charged up the ICC test playe’s ranking - article/ SBS Sinhalese

during day three of the Second Test match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Basin Reserve on January 5, 2015 in Wellington, New Zealand. Source: getty images Hagen Hopkins

Rangana Herath and Kusal Mendis have charged up the ICC test playe’s ranking  after steering Sri Lanka to a 106-run victory over number-one ranked Australia in the first Test in Pallekele on Saturday. 

 Herath, who took four for 49 and five for 54, has returned to the top 10 in ninth position after rising four places in the bowling chart, while Mendis, who won the player of the match award for his 176 in the second innings, has vaulted 27 places to 21^st position in the batting table.

 Herath’s rise means he has opened up a nine-position gap on his nearest team-mate Dhammika Prasad, who is nursing a shoulder injury. The Sri Lanka left-arm spinner is also the fourth spinner inside the top 10 after number-one ranked Ravichandaran Ashwin of India, Pakistan’s fifth-ranked Yasir Shah and sixth-ranked Ravindra Jadeja of India.

 Mendis’s rise means he is now the second highest-ranked Sri Lanka batsman after Angelo Mathews (12^th after dropping two places). Dimuth Karunaratne 36^th (after slipping two places) and Kaushal Silva 43^rd (after falling seven places).