R Ashwin retains No 1 spot, Bumrah moves to 4th in ICC Test rankings
Dubai, Jan 31: Senior India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin maintained the top spot, while compatriot Jasprit Bumrah jumped to fourth in the latest ICC Test bowling rankings released on Wednesday.
Ashwin, who had grabbed a match haul of six wickets in India's 28-run loss in the opening Test against England, is on 853 rating points, while pacer Bumrah, who also claimed half a dozen wickets, rose a rung to fourth.
The third Indian in the top 10 in the bowling charts is left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja at number six.
Jadeja also enjoys a healthy buffer at the head of the Test all-rounder rankings.
However, Joe Root, who has moved up to fourth place, might challenge him soon if the Englland veteran maintains his good show with the ball.
While Root is primarily known for his batting skills, the 33-year-old showcased his handy spin by taking five wickets in the Hyderabad Test. He even opened the bowling for England in the second innings.
This effort has seen Root rise to a new career-high rating on the list for Test all-rounders and seen the evergreen England star jump one place to fourth.
Root is behind Ashwin and Shakib-Al-Hasan while Axar Patel has dropped a spot to sixth.
Virat Kohli has moved to sixth and is the lone Indian among the top 10 batters while Ollie Pope, who stunned India with a magnificent 196 in the second innings, jumped a mammoth 20 places to 15th.
Pope's England teammate Ben Duckett also improved his ranking, gaining five places to 22nd after knocks of 35 and 47 against India.
Australia opener Usman Khawaja gained two places to eighth following a half-century in the opening innings of the second Test against the West Indies at the Gabba.
After their impressive performance against Australia, three West Indies quicks also improved their rankings.
Kemar Roach moved up two places to 17th, Alzarri Joseph climbed four spots to 33rd, and Shamar Joseph, who was the Player-of-the-Match at the Gabba, rose a significant 42 places to reach the 50th position in the rankings.
Big movers on the latest ICC Men's Test Player Rankings following an epic first #WTC25 contest between India and England 😯
— ICC (@ICC) January 31, 2024
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Rupee falls to record low of 86.04 against US dollar, settles 18 paise lower
Mumbai, Jan 10: The rupee declined 18 paise to breach the 86-mark against the US dollar for the first time on Friday as it failed to resist pressure from a stronger American currency and huge outflow of foreign funds.
The local unit settled at 86.04 against the US currency.
Surging crude oil prices overseas and negative sentiment in domestic equity markets also weighed down on the Indian currency, forex traders said.
Also, dollar strengthened on increased demand amid the anticipation of restrictive trade measures by the new US administration after Donald Trump takes over as president on January 20.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 85.88, hit the intra-day peak of 85.85 before breaching the 86-mark to settle at the lowest-ever level of 86.04 against the greenback, 18 paise lower from its previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee gained 5 paise to settle at 85.86 against the US dollar, recovering from the steep decline of 17 paise in the preceding session.
Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan, said the rupee hit another record low as domestic markets continued to slide and FIIs outflows sustained. A strong US dollar and surge in crude oil prices also pressured the rupee.
"Weak tone in the domestic markets, a strong greenback and persistent FII outflows may continue to put downside pressure on the rupee. Rising crude oil prices, as well as surge in the US treasury yields may further weigh on the domestic unit.
"However, any RBI intervention may support rupee at lower levels. Traders may take cues from the non-farm payrolls report and consumer sentiment data from the US. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 85.80 to Rs 86.15," he said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01 per cent higher at 109.01. The 10-year US bond yields also rose to its April 2024 level at 4.69 per cent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, surged 1.96 per cent to USD 78.43 per barrel in futures trade.
In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 241.30 points, or 0.31 per cent, to settle at 77,378.91 points, while the Nifty dropped 95.00 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 23,431.50 points. The indices have been on the downward track for the past three sessions.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded Rs 2,254.68 crore in the capital markets on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.
The latest government data released on Friday showed the country's industrial production (IIP) growth accelerated to a six-month high of 5.2 per cent year-on-year in November 2024, riding on the increased festive demand and pick up in manufacturing sector.
