Sachin Tendulkar

Calcutta: Sachin Tendulkar is back in the top 20 of the LG ICC players’ rankings for Test batsmen after a memorable trip to Bangladesh.

The 34-year-old scored a century in each match, in Chittagong and Dhaka, compiling a total of 254 runs at an average of 127. This marks a significant return to form for the Little Master as he gained six places to jump to 15th spot in the rankings, according to an ICC release.

Now with a total of 672 ratings points, Sachin has Stephen Fleming of New Zealand and England’s Paul Collingwood in his sights, although he is a long way off his own career-best rating of 898 set in 2002. It was a good series for India’s bowlers too with Anil Kumble moving up to third place.

Kumble is now level with South Africa’s Shaun Pollock.

Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen’s maiden double century against the West Indies has catapulted the English batsman to an Elite club of Test batsmen with more than 900 rating points.

Pietersen became 21st batsman of all time to pass the 900-point mark in rankings to join, among others, Sir Don Bradman.

ICC TEST RANKINGS

TEAMS — 1. Australia (135 points), 2. England (114), 3. Pakistan (108), 4. India (107), 5. Sri Lanka (102), 6. South Africa (102), 7. New Zealand (93), 8. West Indies (72), 9. Zimbabwe (28), 10. Bangladesh (1).

BATSMEN — 1. Ricky Ponting (Aus; 936), 2. Mohammed Yousuf (Pak; 915), 3. Kevin Pietersen (Eng; 909), 4. Kumar Sangakkara (SL; 857), 5. Mike Hussey (Aus; 842), 6. Matthew Hayden (Aus; 828), 7. Jacques Kallis (SA; 820), 8. Rahul Dravid (Ind; 801), 9. Younis Khan (Pak; 789), 10. Ashwell Prince (SA; 755)

BOWLERS — 1. Muttiah Muralidharan (SL; 913), 2. Makhaya Ntini (SA; 856), 3. Anil Kumble (Ind; 730) and Shaun Pollock (SA; 730), 5. Shane Bond (NZ; 722), 6. Stuart Clark (Aus; 720), 7. Mohammed Asif (Pak; 710), 8. Matthew Hoggard (Eng; 708), 9. Shoaib Akhtar (Pak; 698), 10. Andrew Flintoff (Eng; 694)

ALLROUNDERS — 1. Jacques Kallis (SA; 462), 2. Andrew Flintoff (Eng; 399), 3. Shaun Pollock (SA; 356), 4. Daniel Vettori (NZ; 329), 5. Chaminda Vaas (SL; 253).