By IANS
Dubai : Captain Anil Kumble (fifth) and Rahul Dravid (12th), India’s best placed bowler and batsman in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings, will be eyeing upward movements when the four-match Test series against Australia begins in Melbourne Wednesday.
Besides Dravid (719 points) and Kumble (732), India’s Sachin Tendulkar (18th with 663), Sourav Ganguly (19th with 657) and V.V.S. Laxman (22nd with 645) will also be aiming to move up the ladder during a series that will surely be their last in Australia.
Although leg-spinner Kumble is the only Indian in the top 10 in the bowlers’ table, left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan will try to climb up from his present 13th rank (661). Irfan Pathan (21st with 577) is the other Indian bowler closest to Zaheer.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting leads the batsmen’s list with 936 points while ace Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan heads the bowlers with 907 points.
Batsmen
1 Ricky Ponting (Australia) 936 rating points
2 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 935
3 Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 933
4 Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan) 880
5 Mike Hussey (Australia) 874
6 Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka) 835
7 Kevin Pietersen (England) 804
8 Matthew Hayden (Australia) 803
9 Yunus Khan (Pakistan) 799
10 Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) 762
Bowlers:
1 Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 907
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) 726
7 Shane Bond (New Zealand) 724
8 Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 701
9 Matthew Hoggard (England) 695
10 Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) 684
All-rounders:
1 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 551
2 Andrew Flintoff (England) 340
3 Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 329
4 Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) 316
5 Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) 276