Sri Lanka’s success also means South Africa – who began 2016 as number one before losing to England in January – are down to seventh in the rankings.
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Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews says it was a “fantastic moment” for his side to thrash Australia on Wednesday to complete a 3-0 series whitewash.
Australia are due to play South Africa in a three-Test series in November and, despite the Proteas slipping to seventh in the rankings, they are always very hard to beat on home soil.
That gave the left-arm spinner match figures of 13 for 145 and 28 wickets in the series as the hosts wrapped up a 3-0 series whitewash.
Sri Lanka claimed opener Shaun Marsh after Australia made a brisk start to their mammoth 324-run chase on a tense final day of the third Test on Wednesday.
Batting at number three after splitting the webbing on his left hand that required stitches, the regular opening batsman notched up his 12th test fifty as Sri Lanka stretched their lead to 163 runs with five wickets in hand.
Pakistan’s achievement was more impressive as they have not played a Test series on home soil since an armed attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore in 2009 turned the country into a no-go area for the world’s leading Test nations.
He shared in a pivotal 90-run sixth-wicket partnership with Dinesh Chandimal (43) that lifted some pressure after their first-session stumble.
The day belonged to Silva who, after scores of 4,7,5,2 and 0 in the last five innings, cover-drove an Adam Voges full toss to bring up his third test fifty in 251 balls.
24 Wickets for Mitchell Starc in this series – most by a non-Asia fast bowler in a Test series of three or fewer matches in Asia.
Dilruwan Perera, the off-spinner, picked up two wickets while Moises Henriques was run out as Sri Lanka’s spinners continued to maintain their stranglehold over the Australian batsmen.
Dhananjaya de Silva finished on 65 not out to go with his match-turning 129 in the first innings while Suranga Lakmal was unbeaten on four.
This is Herath’s highest-ranking since he achieved fourth spot following the Wellington Test against New Zealand in January 2015.
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The Colombo curator and former Sri Lankan team manager Michael de Zoysa has taken a swing at the Australian cricket side, labelling them “ugly” and “poor losers”.
