By IANS
Dubai : Rahul Dravid, the best placed Indian batsman in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings, will try to better his current position (12th) in the upcoming series against Australia even as Australia’s Ricky Ponting and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara jointly occupy the No. 1 spot.
Dravid, who has 719 rating points, will get an opportunity to climb back into top 10 when the four-Test series against Australia starts in Melbourne Dec 26.
In-form batsmen Sachin Tendulkar (19th position with 663 points) and Sourav Ganguly (20th with 657) will also try to better their placing.
The Test series will also be an opportunity for Australia captain Ponting to push Sangakkara down to the second spot and take sole possession of the top spot. Both currently have 936 points.
India’s Test captain Anil Kumble (5th with 732) and pacer Zaheer Khan (12th with 661) will attempt to climb up from their positions with some productive bowling.
However, it will be difficult for both of them to catch up with leader and legendary Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who is sitting atop with 908 points – exactly 100 more than the second placed South African fast bowler Makhya Ntini.
ICC Test rankings:
Batsmen:
1 Ricky Ponting (Australia) and Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) both 936 rating points
3 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 935
4 Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan) 880
5 Mike Hussey (Australia) 874
6 Kevin Pietersen (England) 837
7 Matthew Hayden (Australia) 803
8 Yunus Khan (Pakistan) 799
9 Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka) 766
10 Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) 762
(First position is jointly shared)
Bowlers:
1 Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 908
2 Makhaya Ntini (South Africa) 808
3 Dale Steyn (South Africa) 775
4 Stuart Clark (Australia) 769
5 Anil Kumble (India) 732
6 Brett Lee (Australia) and Matthew Hoggard (England) 726
8 Shane Bond (New Zealand) 724
9 Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 701
10 Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) 684
(Sixth position is jointly shared)
All-rounders:
1 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 551
2 Andrew Flintoff (England) 347
3 Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 329
4 Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) 316
5 Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) 247