An eventful Ashes has come to an end with Australia successfully retaining urn despite t being able to complete ir Ashes mission with a series win over England. It has been a spectacular summer for cricketing fans as Ashes series brought back love for longer format of game. Australia's run-machine Steve Smith has been on a roll ever since he returned to game after his one year ban and has gone on from being portrayed as villain to a legend. Inching closer to Test legend Don Brman, Steve Smith's Test aver of 65 has left cricketers and analysts stunned, with opposition mselves unable to figure out how to get Smith dismissed. Pat Cummins h a bright summer with ball as he emerged as top wicket-taker for Australia in this year's Ashes. Youngster Jofra Archer looks like he has cemented his name in side for longer format after an impressive series in which he also floored number one batsman in world. 

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Harbhajan Singh lauds Ashes heroes

As prestigious Ashes series came to an end, cricketers and fans heaped praises on both teams for putting up a fantastic display of Test cricket. While Australia's show centred around Steve Smith and Pat Cummins, England also h a similar tale with Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer emerging as heroes for home side. Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh took to Twitter to laud Steve Smith, Pat Cummins and Jofra Archer for ir terrific efforts in Ashes. former Indian spinner was all praises for Steve Smith and said that fans would remember him forever for his kcks in series. Harbhajan Singh also lauded youngster Jofra Archer for displaying pure class throughout series. Re Harbhajan Singh's tweet here:

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Splendid Smith

test rankings were released at back of recently concluded Ashes series, which ended in a draw. Steve Smith scored 774 runs in four matches with an aver of 110.57 and highest score of 211. Smith is leing list with 937 points and has a gap of 34 points over second-placed Virat Kohli. Smith's magnificent performance during series was reflected in rankings since he was fourth on  list with 857 points at start of Ashes series. test rankings are updated after every match, and Virat will have a chance to reclaim his place during Test matches against South Africa. Smith did t play cricket for a year since March 2018 as he was banned by Cricket Australia (CA) for his involvement in 'sand-paper gate' incident wherein Australian players were conspired of using sandpaper to modify ball during series against South Africa. However, he has me a strong return to international cricket, scoring 379 runs at ICC World Cup and was also recognized as Australia's Man of series and also awarded  Compton-Miller medal for his performances. In his absence, highest run-getter in Tests for Australia was Travis He with 663 runs, and he was overtaken by Smith in just four tests. 

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Gainers and losers

bowler's Test ranking list saw Pat Cummins consolidate his place at top of list with 908 points. He has a 57 points le over second-placed Kagiso Raba. For Australia, Matw We and Mitchell Marsh were or players who me significant gains with ir performances, whereas David Warner dropped by 19 positions to 24 on list over five test matches, where he scored a grand total of 95 runs in 10 innings.  For England, fast bowler Jofra Archer me into top-40 for first time after finishing series as third-highest wicket-taker with 22 wickets. He me his test debut in second match at Lords.

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