Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Calcutta: Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni maintained his top slot in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen while Zaheer Khan is now just one step away from breaking into the bowler’s top 10.

Apart from Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, at sixth, is the only other Indian batsman in the top 10 while Sachin Tendulkar is ranked 12th.

In the bowlers’ chart, Indian pace spearhead Zaheer rose a step to 11th while offie Harbhajan Singh (20th) climbed two rungs to break into the top 20.

Outside India, Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Kulasekara gained 11 places to 14th place after a successful series against Zimbabwe.

Ajantha Mendis, leading wicket-taker in the series with 15 scalps, has gained 19 places and now occupies the 25th position in the rankings while Muttiah Muralidharan gained three spots to be back into the top five in third position.

Australia’s Nathan Bracken still retains his place as the top-ranked ODI bowler in the world with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori close behind in second.

In the batsmen’s chart, Kumar Sangakkara is up one place to 15th after finishing top-scorer in the series against Zimbabwe with 182 runs in what was a tour essentially dominated by the ball.

There are no changes in the top 10 batsmen with Dhoni being followed by Michael Hussey of Australia in second place and South Africa’s Graeme Smith in third.

In the Test rankings, Virender Sehwag remained India’s highest ranked batsman while Harbhajan Singh retained his seventh place on the bowlers’ list.

Sehwag is the solitary Indian presence in the top ten which has Shivnarine Chanderpaul at No.1. followed by Sangakkara and banned Pakistan batsman Mohammed Yousuf at second and third place, respectively.

V.V.S. Laxman dropped a place to 14th while Sachin Tendulkar too slipped a rung to 17th. Gautam Gambhir is 18th.

Muttiah Muralidharan led the bowlers’ chart followed by Dale Steyn and Stuart Clark. Zaheer Khan at 20th is the other Indian on the list.

Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson broke into the top-ten rankings for bowlers for the first time in his career gaining four ranking places to be tied for the eighth spot with Sri Lanka pacer Chaminda Vaas and Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar.

Jacques Kallis, Daniel Vettori and Andrew Flintoff respectively bring up the top three on the allrounders’ list.

RANKINGS

TESTS

Batsmen — 1. S.Chanderpaul; 2. K. Sangakkara; 3. Md.Yousuf; 4. M. Hussey; 5. M. Jayawardene; 6.K. Pietersen; 7. R.Ponting; 8. Y. Khan; 9. G. Smith; 10.V. Sehwag.

Bowlers — 1. M. Muralidaran; 2. D. Steyn; 3. S. Clark; 4. M. Ntini; 5. B. Lee; 6. R. Sidebottom; 7. H. Singh;8= C.Vaas, S. Akhtar,M. Johnson.

Allrounders — 1. J. Kallis; 2.D.Vettori; 3. A. Flintoff; 4. D. Bravo; 5.C.Vaas.

ODIs

Batsmen — 1. M.S. Dhoni; 2. M. Hussey; 3. G. Smith; 4. S. Chanderpaul; 5. C.Gayle; 6.Y. Singh; 7. R.Ponting; 8. K. Pietersen; 9. M.Yousuf; 10. A.Symonds.

Bowlers — 1. N. Bracken; 2. D.Vettori; 3.M. Muralidharan; 4. M. Johnson; 5. K.D. Mills; 6. S.Tanvir and S. Broad; 8. J. Oram and J. Taylor; 10. A. Flintoff.

Allrounders —1. J. Oram; 2. A. Flintoff; 3.C.Gayle and S. Malik; 5. J. Kallis.