Ashwin rises to 2nd, Mayank Agarwal jumps 30 places to 11th in ICC Test rankings
Dubai(PTI): Senior India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin climbed a rung to second while his teammate and opener Mayank Agarwal, along with New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel also made huge progress in the ICC Test Rankings issued on Wednesday.
Agarwal's Player of the Match effort in the second Test in Mumbai, where he scored 150 and 62, has helped him gain 30 spots and reach 11th position in the latest update to the men's rankings.
He is just one spot below a career-best 10th position that he first attained in November 2019.
The Mumbai-born Patel, who became only the third player to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings, emulating Jim Laker and Anil Kumble, has moved up 23 slots to 38th after finishing with 14 wickets in the match.
The left-arm spinner's previous best ranking was 53rd and he had started the series in 62nd position.
Others to move up in the rankings after the Mumbai Test, which was a part of the ICC World Championships, are India opener Shubman Gill (up 21 places to 45th), fast bowler Mohammad Siraj (up four places to 41st) and New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell (up 26 places to 78th).
Ashwin has bridged the gap with top-ranked bowler Pat Cummins after finishing with four wickets in each innings in India's 372-run victory.
Ashwin has gained 43 rating points to reach a total of 883 and is 67 points ahead of third-placed Josh Hazlewood.
He has moved up one place to second among all-rounders even as his compatriot Ravindra Jadeja has slipped to fourth in the list led by West Indies' Jason Holder.
Holder has gained one spot to reach 14th among bowlers in Wednesday's update, that also considers performances from the Galle Test that Sri Lanka won by 164 runs to complete a 2-0 series victory and remain atop the ICC World Test Championship points table.
Kraigg Brathwaite (up 10 places to 39th) and Nkrumah Bonner (up 17 places to 42nd) are the batters to move up for the West Indies but the one to gain the most after the Galle Test is Player of the Match Dhananjaya de Silva, who has advanced 12 places to 21st after his unbeaten 155 in the second innings.
Spinners Lasith Embuldeniya and Ramesh Mendis too have made substantial gains. Embuldeniya has gained five slots to reach 32nd position after finishing with seven wickets in the match, while Mendis has progressed 18 places to 39th with an 11-wicket match haul.
Among batters, Rohit Sharma, who did not play in the Mumbai Test, and Virat Kohli (0 and 36) remained on fifth and sixth respectively.
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I-T Department sends notice to actor-director Prithviraj Sukumaran over co-produced films
New Delhi: The Income Tax (I-T) Department has sent a notice to actor and director Prithviraj Sukumaran asking for more details about the money he earned from some films he co-produced. The notice was reportedly served during the last week of March by the I-T office in Kochi. He has been asked to respond by the end of April.
The department is seeking clarification on the income from a few movies Prithviraj was involved in as a co-producer. This comes at a time when the actor has been receiving criticism from right-wing groups over what seemed to be references to the 2002 Gujarat riots in his latest film L2: Empuraan, starring Mohanlal, which released on March 27.
On April 4, 2025, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at the offices of Gokulam Gopalan, a Kerala-based businessman and one of the producers of L2: Empuraan, along with a few others. These searches were part of an investigation into alleged violations of foreign exchange rules.
The I-T notice to Prithviraj is believed to be linked to an ongoing investigation that began in December 2022 into suspected tax evasion within the Malayalam film industry.
At the time, tax officials had raided the homes and offices of several producers, including Antony Perumbavoor, Anto Joseph, and Listin Stephen, over concerns about unreported income, cash deals, and overseas investments. Prithviraj’s premises were also searched during that operation.
