Dubai , 5 March 2008Gilchrist signs off in sixth place while Hayden returns to top five; Player of the Series Bracken stays in second place but Harbhajan is back in top 20
India’s little master Sachin Tendulkar has stormed to the top of LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after brilliant performances in the tri-series final which concluded in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Tendulkar jumped 10 places to top spot after scoring 399 runs in the series, including match-winning knocks of 117 not out and 91 in the finals in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.
It is almost three-and-a-half years since the 34-year-old from Mumbai has been at the top of the one-day chart. Tendulkar, who has scored 16,361 runs with 42 centuries, last spearheaded the batting chart in August 2004 during the series against Sri Lanka in Colombo .
Tendulkar had entered the series in eighth place on 736 points and after battling the ups and downs during a keenly contested series, finished on 777 points to lead Australia captain Ricky Ponting by seven points.
Ponting dropped to second place after occupying the coveted position since the fifth ODI against India in Baroda in October last year. The Tasmanian had started the tri-series on 832 points but lost 62 points after scoring just 191 runs in 10 matches, including a top score of 124.
Ponting is in danger of losing further ground if his South African opposite number Graeme Smith displays the same form in the ODI series against Bangladesh he showed in the Test series. Smith is in third place and just 17 points adrift.
Australia opener Matthew Hayden, besides Tendulkar, is the only big name to have made movement in the right direction. He climbed two places to finish eighth following his 298-run contribution.
However, Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist’s hopes of ending his career on top of the batting list were dashed when the 36-year-old from New South Wales signed off in sixth place after dropping four positions.
Gilchrist scored 9,619 runs and dismissed 472 batsmen behind the wickets and held the top slot on numerous occasions between 2002 and 2006. Gilchrist had started the series in 16th position and gained 56 points after scoring 322 runs.
Australia duo of Mike Hussey and Andrew Symonds managed to hold their places in seventh and 14th positions respectively.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped one place to 10th, Australia ’s Michael Clarke slipped seven places to 12th, India ’s Yuvraj Singh fell one place to 18th while India ’s Gautam Gambhir, who was the leading run-getter of the series with 440 runs, slipped one place to 27th.
While some of the most accomplished batsmen struggled to retain their rankings, a couple of newcomers made an instant impact.
India ’s Rohit Sharma rocketed 21 places to 88th position and Australia ’s James Hopes jumped 11 places to 99th spot.
In the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Australia fast bowler Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson failed to retain their places. Lee dropped two places to seventh while Johnson failed to enter the top 10 and instead slipped four places to 15th.
Harbhajan Singh, however, improved three places to 18th spot to become his country’s only bowler in that group while Praveen Kumar climbed 47 places to 75th and Irfan Pathan slipped six places to 36th position.
The bowlers list is still headed by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori with Player of the Series Nathan Bracken in second place, 20 points behind.
The top 10 in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders remains unchanged. The list is headed by Pakistan ’s Shoaib Malik while Clarke in 13th place in Australia ’s highest ranked all-rounder.
LG ICC ODI Rankings (as of 5 March)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 (+10) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 777 44.33 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
2 (-1) Ricky Ponting Aus 770 43.40 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
3 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 753 39.80 784 v Ind at Kolkata 2005
4 ( - ) Mohd Yousuf Pak 752 43.07 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
5 (+6) Matthew Hayden Aus 740 43.80 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
6 (-4) Adam Gilchrist Aus 738 35.89 820 v SL at Dambulla 2004
7 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 736 55.60 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
8 (-2) Kevin Pietersen Eng 735 48.18 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
9 (-2) H.H.Gibbs SA 731 36.73 750 v SL at Durban 2003
10 (-1) MS Dhoni Ind 728 45.50 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
11 (-1) S.Chanderpaul WI 721 39.62 754 v SA at Durban 1999
12 (-7) Michael Clarke Aus 717 44.04 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008
13 ( - ) K.C.Sangakkara SL 716 36.03 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
14 ( - ) Andrew Symonds Aus 713 39.68 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
15 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 703 36.39 730 v NZ at Durban 2007
16 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 698 45.21 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
17 (+1) R.R.Sarwan WI 692 44.55 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
18 (-1) Yuvraj Singh Ind 691 36.09 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006
19 ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 690 39.02 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
20 ( - ) M.Jayawardena SL 678 33.24 737 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2001
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 790! 31.87 4.18 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008
2 ( - ) Nathan Bracken Aus 770 21.89 4.37 806 v SL at St George's 2007
3 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 736 19.32 4.20 811 v SA at St George's 2007
4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 699 27.26 4.19 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
5 (+1) Kyle Mills NZ 683 26.66 4.65 694 v Ban at Queenstown 2007
6 (+1) Daren Powell WI 673! 29.96 4.58 673 v SA at Johannesburg 2008
7 (-2) Brett Lee Aus 671 22.81 4.71 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
8 ( - ) M.Muralidaran SL 668 23.00 3.87 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
9 ( - ) Jerome Taylor WI 660 27.17 4.74 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
10 ( - ) M.F.Maharoof SL 653 24.39 4.65 671 v Eng at Dambulla 2007
11 (+1) Makhaya Ntini SA 645 24.12 4.46 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004
12 ( - ) Brad Hogg Aus 636 26.84 4.52 687 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
13= (+1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 634 25.10 4.37 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
(+1) Jacob Oram NZ 634 31.24 4.48 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004
15 (-4) M.G.Johnson Aus 632* 25.41 4.80 659 v SL at Melbourne 2008
16 ( - ) Andre Nel SA 624 28.34 4.68 672 v Ind at Stormont 2007
17 ( - ) Lasith Malinga SL 621 25.58 4.80 687 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007
18 ( - ) Abdur Razzak Ban 616 23.95 4.09 711 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007
19 (+3) Harbhajan Singh Ind 615 33.51 4.18 735 v WI at Bridgetown 2002
20 (-1) Peter Ongondo Ken 610! 25.14 4.34 610 v Ber at Nairobi 2007
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Shoaib Malik Pak 347 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005
2 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 344 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 337 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
4= ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 335 511 v Zim at Harare 2003
( - ) Jacob Oram NZ 335 353 v Eng at Auckland 2008
-ICC MEDIA RELEASE