A career best bowling performance by Yasir Shah inspired Pakistan to a 10-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test which concluded in Galle on Sunday.

The 29-year-old leg-spinner, playing in what was only his eighth Test, claimed match figures of 9/155 to move up six places to 14th in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers as Misbah-ul-Haq’s men produced a fine all-round display over Angelo Mathews’ side.

There was also a positive rankings gain for Yasir’s team-mate Wahab Riaz, who took five for 120 in the match, to move up 11 places to 41st in the process. For Sri Lanka, Dilruwan Perera has moved up three places to 25th after the off-spinner claimed match figures of four for 153, while Dhammika Prasad claimed three for 101 to vault four places to a career high 52nd.

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, Pakistan’s Younis Khan as moved up one place to fifth after scoring 47 but the biggest mover from the match was his team-mate Asad Shafiq whose 131, in scoring his seventh Test century, boosted him seven places to 12th.

Wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed’s first innings score of 96 moved him up five places to a career high 16th, though, conversely, Azhar Ali has fallen six places to 19th.

Several Sri Lanka batsmen also enjoyed significant gains with Kaushal Silva (up eight places to a career high 33rd following scores of 125 and 5), Dinesh Chandimal (up two places to 47th) and Dimuth Karunaratne (up eight places to 49th to break into the top 50 for the first time in his career) leading the way.

Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan continues to lead the all-rounder rankings on 381 points and he holds a 40 point lead over South Africa’s Vernon Philander.

The action moves to Colombo on Thursday with Sri Lanka bidding to square the three-match series, while Pakistan has a chance to win the series.

Rank Team Points1 South Africa 1302 Australia 1113 New Zealand 994 India 975 England 976 Pakistan 977 Sri Lanka 968 West Indies 819 Bangladesh 4110 Zimbabwe 5

-ICC