Two-match winning margin will push home side above SA and close gap on Australia; chance for Ponting and Hussey to go top of batting rankings while fast bowler Clark can overtake Muralidaran; Tendulkar seeks return to top 20
India can move to second place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship table if it beats Australia by a margin of two Tests or more in the upcoming four-match series, which gets underway in Bangalore on 9 October.
Anil Kumble’s side currently lies in third position, seven ratings points behind South Africa and 29 points behind Australia . A series win of 4-0 would see India move ahead of Graeme Smith’s men and reduce the gap with the leader to just seven points.
Scorelines of 3-0, 3-1 or 2-0 would also be enough for India to claim second position and put pressure on Australia , which has been at the top of the ICC Test Championship table for more than five years.
A 1-0 or 2-1 win for India would leave it in third position but close the gap on the Proteas to just one ratings point and Australia would come back to the chasing pack by losing eight points. Such is the weighting of the rankings where it’s designed to be particularly tough at the top, a drawn series or even a narrow Australia win would see it lose points.
But Australia can widen the gap if it wins the series by two Tests or more. A 4-0 sweep would put Ricky Ponting’s men almost out of sight, 26 points clear of its nearest rival.
On the individual front, either of Ponting and team-mate Michael Hussey could go top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen if they put in high-class performances in the middle over the coming weeks.
At present, Hussey sits in third position, just eight ratings points behind West Indies left-hander and ICC Cricketer of the Year 2008 Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Ponting is just two points further back and he will be looking to turn around his previous form in India , which historically has not been up to the high standard of his play elsewhere in the world.
With Chanderpaul not currently in action, the way is clear for one of these Australia players to make his mark on the rankings while Matthew Hayden (seventh place) and Michael Clarke (13th) can also make moves in the right direction.
India currently has three batsmen in the top 20 with Virender Sehwag (10th), VVS Laxman (15th) and Rahul Dravid (16th) all capable of improving on their current positions.
Sachin Tendulkar is currently lying in 23rd position, his lowest ranking in 15 years. With several players ahead of him not in action, he can make a quick return to the top 20 with some solid performances against Australia .
On the bowling front, Australia ’s Stuart Clark has a chance of displacing Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralidaran at the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers.
Murali has been a model of consistency throughout his career, averaging less than 22 across a career that has already lasted more than 16 years. He last slipped below the 800 ratings point mark way back in June 2000 and his career high of 920 puts him fourth in the all-time list. The 36-year-old from Kandy has been there since 28 February 2006 and it will take a monumental effort from Clark if he is to displace him now.
But the 33-year-old New South Welshman is enjoying the highest rating of his career to date and his confidence will be high after a successful tour to the West Indies earlier this year where he took 13 wickets in three matches at an average of 19.30.
Brett Lee is the other Australia fast bowler in the top five and he can push back up above the 800-point mark during this series. He will remember the part he played in Australia’s series victory over India on home turf earlier this year when he took 24 wickets – the most of any bowler on either side – and he’ll be anxious to replicate some of that form.
For its part, India has only one fast bowler in the top 20 in the shape of Zaheer Khan but on the spinning front things are much more healthy with Harbhajan Singh and captain Kumble in 12th and 10th places respectively. With that part of the rankings quite congested, expect to see plenty of movement one way or another during the series.
India v Australia Test series schedule:
9-13 Oct – first Test, Bangalore
17-21 Oct – second Test, Mohali
29 Oct-2 Nov – third Test, Delhi
6-10 Nov – fourth Test, Nagpur
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship (as of 7 October, ahead of the series between India and Australia )
Rank Team Rating
1 Australia 138
2 South Africa 116
3 India 109
4 Sri Lanka 108
5 England 104
6 Pakistan 100
7 New Zealand 83
8 West Indies 81
9 Bangladesh 0
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (as of 7 October)
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Avge HS Rating
1 S.Chanderpaul WI 890! 49.08 890 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
2 K.C.Sangakkara SL 886 54.79 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
3 Mike Hussey Aus 882 68.38 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
4= Ricky Ponting Aus 880 58.37 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
Mohd Yousuf Pak 880 55.49 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
6 M.Jayawardena SL 837 52.41 847 v Ind at Colombo (SSC) 2008
7 Matthew Hayden Aus 834 53.51 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
8 Kevin Pietersen Eng 829 50.51 905 v WI at Headingley 2007
9 Yunus Khan Pak 799 49.14 856 v Eng at Headingley 2006
10 Virender Sehwag Ind 786 52.62 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
11 Jacques Kallis SA 774 55.46 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
12 Graeme Smith SA 739 49.23 759 v Eng at Edgbaston 2008
13 Michael Clarke Aus 723 47.06 761 v Ind at Melbourne 2007
14 A Symonds Aus 700* 44.65 718 v WI at Antigua 2008
15 VVS Laxman Ind 699 43.79 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
16= Rahul Dravid Ind 686 53.92 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
Alastair Cook Eng 686 42.88 707 v SL at Galle 2007
18 AB de Villiers SA 679! 41.61 679 v Eng at The Oval 2008
19= R.R.Sarwan WI 659 40.40 697 v Eng at Old Trafford 2004
Ashwell Prince SA 659 42.23 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Avge HS Rating
1 M.Muralidaran SL 895 21.96 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
2 Stuart Clark Aus 863*! 21.46 863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008
3 Dale Steyn SA 847 22.51 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
4 Brett Lee Aus 793 29.58 811 v WI at Antigua 2008
5 Makhaya Ntini SA 760 28.22 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
6 Ryan Sidebottom Eng 738* 25.68 769 v SA at Lord's 2008
7= Chaminda Vaas SL 684 29.31 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
Shoaib Akhtar Pak 684 25.69 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
9 Shane Bond NZ 668* 22.39 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
10= Anil Kumble Ind 653 29.34 859 v SL at Bangalore 1994
Monty Panesar Eng 653 31.95 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
12 Harbhajan Singh Ind 641 30.87 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
13 Jerome Taylor WI 628*! 34.69 628 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
14 James Anderson Eng 620! 34.51 620 v SA at The Oval 2008
15 Mohammad Asif Pak 619* 23.13 710 v SA at Cape Town 2007
16 Andrew Flintoff Eng 615 32.21 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
17 Danish Kaneria Pak 614 33.90 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
18 Zaheer Khan Ind 611 34.06 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
19 M Hoggard Eng 593 30.50 795 v SL at Edgbaston 2006
20 Jacques Kallis SA 592 31.22 742 v Eng at Headingley 2003
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 Jacques Kallis SA 458 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 Daniel Vettori NZ 324 360 v Eng at Lord's 2008
3 Andrew Flintoff Eng 302 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
4 Dwayne Bravo WI 295/*! 295 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
5 Chaminda Vaas SL 281 300 v WI at Guyana 2008
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