With the World Cup just around the corner, Sachin Tendulkar sounded warning to his opponents by moving back into the list of top-20 ODI batsmen on the LG-ICC Player ranking released on Thursday.
Tendulkar, who hit his 41st hundred in the fourth and final match of the one-day international series against West Indies yesterday, climbed four places to be joint 18th alongside Sri Lanka's Upul Tharanga. He amassed 191 runs from the four matches.
The Mumbai batsman had slipped out of the elite club in April last year but briefly regained his place during a tri-series against Australia and the West Indies in Malaysia and the ICC Champions Trophy, and then dropped out again by the end of the latter tournament in November 2006.
Wicketkeeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the highest-placed Indian, occupying fourth place after gaining two spots to be behind leaders Mike Hussey of Australia, England's Kevin Pietersen and Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting in that order.
India now boast four players inside the top-20 batting slots with captain Rahul Dravid moving three places up in 12th spot and Yuvraj Singh lying 20th.
Although Yuvraj has slipped one place, the good news is that he is playing again after being sidelined since October with a serious knee injury.
India's 3-1 success against the West Indies, was however, not enough to lift it up from sixth place in the ODI Team Championship table.
Top-10 teams: 1. Australia (135), 2. South Africa (126), 3. Pakistan (112), 4. New Zealand (110), 5. Sri Lanka (109), 6. India (108), 7. West Indies (101), 8. England (97), 9. Bangladesh (41), 10. Zimbabwe (23)
Top-10 Batsmen: 1. Mike Hussey (Aus, 863), 2. Kevin Pietersen (Eng,782), 3. Ricky Ponting (Aus, 763), 4. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind, 762), 5. Adam Gilchrist (Aus, 754), 6. Andrew Symonds (Aus, 753), 7. Kumar Sangakkara (SL, 747), 8. Chris Gayle (WI, 741), 9. Sanath Jayasuriya (SL, 730), 10. Michael Clarke (Aus, 725)
Top-10 Bowlers: 1. Shaun Pollock (SA, 910), 2. Glenn McGrath (Aus, 817), 3. Daniel Vettori (NZ, 767), 4. Nathan Bracken (Aus, 750), 5. Brett Lee (Aus), 6. Makhaya Ntini (SA,742), 7. Chaminda Vaas (SL,741), 8. Muttiah Muralitharan (SL,731), 9. Ian Bradshaw (WI,701), 10.Shane Bond (NZ,682)
Top-5 All-rounders: 1. Shaun Pollock (SA, 477), 2. Chris Gayle (WI, 422), 3.Andrew Flintoff (Eng, 379), 4.Sanath Jayasuriya (SL, 375), 5.Andrew Symonds (Aus, 334)
