Cummins soars up ICC rankings

Pat Cummins' brilliant performance in the third Domain Test in Melbourne has seen the Australia tearaway rocket up the ICC Test bowling rankings.

Cummins claimed 9-99, including a career-best 6-27, at the MCG which has seen him become the No.3 Test bowler in the world.

The 25-year-old now trails only South Africa spearhead Kagiso Rabada (880 rating points) and England veteran James Anderson (874).

While the news was good for Cummins, it wasn't so for teammates Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, who slipped out of the top 10 to 11th and 14th, respectively. 

India paceman Jasprit Bumrah, who was named player of the match in Melbourne for his match figures of 9-86, moved up 12 places to No.16 on the bowling charts.

The right-armer was brilliant in the Boxing Day Test and earned the highest praise possible from captain Virat Kohli.

"Jasprit obviously is the best bowler in the world," Kohli said post-match. "He is a match winner, without doubt.

"The mindset he has is what separates him from anyone else in the world right now. He looks at the pitch and he doesn't think, 'It's a hard toil on these wickets'. He thinks, 'How can I make a breakthrough for the team?'.

"Your mindset separates you from the rest and he is as strong-headed as I have seen anyone in the past, and that's the key to his success. That's what I have seen in the past 12 months."

The calendar year ended with Kohli ranked as the world's best Test batsman, ahead of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and suspended Australian Steve Smith.

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: India won by 137 runs

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar