West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul replaced Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara at the top of the ICC ranking for the Test batsman, issued on Monday.
Sangakkarra, who surged to the top of the rankings in December last year, could manage just 12 runs in Sri Lanka's 600-6 declared in the first innings of the first Test and has consequently dropped to second place which he now shares with Australia's Mike Hussey.
Chanderpaul benefited from Sangakkara's fall to lead the batting rankings for the first time in his career.
The Guyanese player has been in awesome form and put up a solid show against Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
However, Sangakkara can get back to the top position if he could get some runs under his belt in the second Test as the point-margin between him and the Caribbean batsman is very thin.
Meanwhile, Indians who came a cropper in the first Test had nothing to rejoice but VVS Laxman who broke back to top-20 after gaining three places to be at 18th spot.
Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 27 and 12, has slipped one place to 15th but still remains India's highest-ranked batsman.
Rahul Dravid has dropped three places to 19th while Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly have dropped out of the top-20.
Sri Lankan skipper Jayawardena and his centurion teammates --Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera and Malinda Warnapura -- have also gained valuable places after their stupendous show.
Dilshan has climbed seven places to 29th, Samaraweera has lifted eight places to 37th and Warnapura sits in 48th position after jumping 27 spots.
Sehwag has slipped three places to 21st position while Ganguly now sits in 24th place after dropping four spots.
In the Test rankings for the bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan hero of the first Test win against India, returned to the 900-point mark in the ratings, which only 19 players have achieved in the 131 years of Tests.
The magical off-spinner continues to rule the bowlers chart with 907 points. He is followed by Dale Steyn of South Africa.
Ajantha Mendis, who recorded match figures of 8-132 in his debut Test, enters the rankings in 51st position.
Indian bowlers including skipper Anil Kumble have failed to defend their positions in the top-20 zone.
Kumble has dropped to ninth, Zaheer Khan has slipped to 16th while Harbhajan Singh moves down to 18th.
In the all-rounder listing, Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas has dropped one place to fifth. The chart is headed by South Africa's Jacques Kallis, followed by Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, Dwayne Bravo of the West Indies and England's Andrew Flintoff.
