Calcutta: Sachin Tendulkar will enter his farewell series in 24th position on the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen and will have a chance to finish his illustrious career inside the top 20.

Sachin trails 18th ranked Matt Prior of England by 15 ratings points, and strong performances either in Calcutta or Mumbai will see him sign off on a high. Sachin has previously held the No. 1 spot, having first topped the batting charts in November 1994 when he overtook Brian Lara in Mumbai after knocks of 34 and 85 against the West Indies.

He last held the top spot in June 2011 before surrendering it to South Africa’s Jacques Kallis after deciding to give the series in the West Indies a miss. Sachin topped the batting tables five times in his career — November 1994, March 1998, May 2000, early 2002 and October 2010.

He also spent a total of 139 Tests (fourth most) and 1,157 days (12th most) as the top-ranked batsman in Test cricket.

Besides Sachin, it will also be an opportunity for India’s highest-ranked batsman Cheteshwar Pujara to improve his ranking. Pujara is currently sitting in seventh position but given that he is still in the qualification period for batsmen, he is likely to move up the order if he records strong performances. Pujara has so far scored 1,180 runs at an average of 65.55 in 22 Test innings.