Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Tendulkar rises to No 3 in rankings

October 06, 2010 19:08 IST

India's master batsman Sachin Tendulkar moved into third position in the latest Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, which were released on Wednesday.

The 37-year-old from Mumbai scored 98 and 38 in the Mohali Test, which India won by one-wicket on Tuesday.

As a result, he improved his ranking by one place, which puts him in third position in the list, headed by Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara and India opener Virender Sehwag in second place.

Tendulkar's third position is his highest ranking since the Hamilton Test against New Zealand in December 2002.

Tendulkar now trails Sehwag by 13 ratings points. Another solid performance with the bat in the second Test, which starts in Bangalore from October 9, could potentially put him in second place for the first time since October 2002.

Also on the charge is VVS Laxman, whose unbeaten 73 was the cornerstone of India's thrilling victory. The Hyderabad batsman jumped four places to eighth position while achieving a career-best rating to date. Interestingly, Laxman had peaked thrice, in 2001, 2003 and 2007 -- all against Australia.

Rahul Dravid moved up one place to 22, but Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni fell 16 and 37 positions respectively.

Australia opener Shane Watson, who scored 126 and 56, has also made a big impact on the rankings, vaulting nine places to claim a career-best 30th position.

The news is not very good for the other Australia batsmen, as Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Marcus North all slipped in the rankings.

Clarke fell five places to share eighth spot with Laxman; Katich has dropped three places to 12th spot, Ponting slipped two places to 19th position, Hussey shares 28th position with Ramnaresh Sarwan of the West Indies after falling six places while North now sits in 52nd after dropping five places.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, fast bowlers Zaheer Khan of India and Australia's pair of Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus achieved career-best rankings.

Zaheer, who was declared man of the match for his eight wickets, moved to fifth position

Bollinger's five wickets in the Mohali Test helped him rise to eighth spot and Hilfenhaus is in the top 20 for the first time in 20th position.

Mitchell Johnson is also on the move and his five wickets lifted him two places to fourth position.

Dale Steyn leads the bowling table, with England off-spinner Graeme Swann in second spot.