Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Australia's Ricky Ponting are sharing number one position in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen in one of the closest battles for top spot in many years.
Following a relatively disappointing second Test against England in Colombo for Sangakkara, where he scored just one run in the first innings and didn't get an opportunity to make amends in the second, he has slipped down level with the Australia captain.
The two are locked on 936 ratings points but Sangakkara has the first chance to move ahead again when Sri Lanka and England take the field for the third and final Test of the series in Galle, starting on Tuesday.
Also ready to pounce from third place is South Africa's dependable all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who is just one ratings point adrift. His push for the top begins when the Proteas take on the West Indies beginning on 26 December in Port Elizabeth.
Ponting, too, will get another chance to reclaim the number-one ranking when the first Test of the four-match series against India gets underway in Melbourne on the same day.
Sangakkara's team-mate Mahela Jayawardena has gained three places and is back into the top 10 following his magnificent 195 in the drawn second Test at Colombo. Jayawardena moves ahead of Rahul Dravid of India, Michael Clarke of Australia and the West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul into ninth position.
The form of Michael Vaughan is a cause for optimism in the England camp and his knocks of 83 and 61 in the second Test have moved him up the rankings to 24th position. He now has the opportunity to get back into the top 20 for the first time since 2004. That would leave all five of England's top order in the top 20.
For India, left-hander Sourav Ganguly has capped off an good series for his team with another good showing in the LG ICC Player Rankings. He has squeezed into the top 20 for the first time in seven years with another outstanding performance in Bangalore.
The fact he was placed 39th just one year ago indicates the sort of form the 35-year-old is in. With two centuries, one fifty and an average of 89.00, it could be said that Ganguly is back somewhere near his very best.
The other big mover from the India v Pakistan Test series is Misbah-ul-Haq. One of Pakistan's stars of the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa began the series in 88th position in the Test rankings. He is now ranked in 25th position after scoring 464 runs in six innings at an average of 116. It is surely fair to say the 33-year-old is enjoying this period of his playing career.
On the bowling front, India's Test captain Anil Kumble is relishing his time in charge and he certainly hasn't let it affect his form with the ball.
The hugely experienced leg-spinner took 18 wickets in the three-Test series, including 5-60 in Bangalore, and bowled more overs than any of his team-mates. As a result, he has moved up two places and is back into the top five in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers.
Another source of optimism for England following the second Test in Colombo will be the performance of Steve Harmison. He has been showing glimpses of the sort of form that peaked during the West Indies tour to England in 2004 and if he manages a significant haul of wickets in Galle, he could make it back into the top 20.
Muttiah Muralitharan took six wickets in the match in Colombo, including five in the first innings, and he easily retains his place at the top of the log, some 100 ratings points clear of South Africa's Makhaya Ntini in second position.
There is no change in the top five of the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders with Kallis still the man to catch at the top. The main mover was India's Irfan Pathan, whose maiden Test century at Bangalore has moved him up two places to sixth in the list, just behind Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka.
