Lyon shoots to ICC rankings high

Nathan Lyon's big week just got bigger after the latest update of the ICC player ratings revealed the off-spinner is now Australia's highest-ranked Test bowler.

Lyon won player-of-the-match honours in the second Domain Test for his eight wickets in Australia's series-levelling 146-run win over India.

The 31-year-old moved up to seventh place on the Test bowling rankings, equaling his career-high which he achieved in October last year.

Lyon is joined by pacemen Pat Cummins (eighth) and Josh Hazlewood (ninth) in the top 10, while spearhead Mitchell Starc climbs one spot to No.15.

Remarkably, Australia have four bowlers in the top 15 Test bowlers in the world. No other country has more than two.

Lyon is now No.25 on the all-time Test leading wicket-takers list, a feat that hasn't quite sunk in yet.

"It's a bit surreal," Lyon said when told of the record this week.  

"Those types of milestones for me personally haven't really sunk in. I don't think I'm at the top of my game yet.

"I think I've still got a lot of improvement, a lot of learning about the game and about off-spin bowling. I believe there's a lot around the corner for me if I keep working hard and keep wanting to get better.

"At the end of my career I'll sit down with my family and friends and hopefully have a beer with mum and dad and my brother and everyone else and just go 'OK, that's where we got to, that's pretty special'.

"But I've got a lot to achieve in my eyes."

Meanwhile, India captain Virat Kohli has strengthened his hold on the top spot for Test batsmen following his 123 in the first innings at Perth Stadium.

Kohli, on 934 rating points, sits ahead of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (915) and suspended Australia skipper Steve Smith (892).

Williamson's rating of 915 points is the joint-25th highest ever, equal with ICC Hall of Famer George Headley of the West Indies.

Australia's highest-ranked active batsman is Usman Khawaja, his moved up one spot to No.12 with 692 rating points.

ICC Test batting rankings | Top 10

1. Virat Kohli (Ind) 934 rankings points

2. Kane Williamson (NZ) 915

3. Steve Smith (Aus) 892

4. Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind) 816

5. Joe Root (Eng) 807

6. David Warner (Aus) 787

7. Dimuth Karunaratne (SL) 752

8. Dean Elgar (SA) 724

= 9. Ashar Ali (Pak) 708

= 9. Henry Nicholls (NZ) 708

ICC Test bowling rankings | Top 10

1. Kagiso Rabada (SA) 882 rankings points

2. James Anderson (Eng) 874

3. Vernon Philander (SA) 826

4. Mohammad Abbas (Pak) 821

5. Ravindra Jadeja (Ind) 796

6. Ravi Ashwin (Ind) 778

7. Nathan Lyon (Aus) 766

8. Pat Cummins (Aus) 761 

9. Josh Hazlewood (Aus) 758

10. Yasir Shah (Pak) 757

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

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, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Archie Schiller

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