By IANS
Dubai : Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf and India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh have improved their positions in the latest LG ICC ODI rankings for batsmen following their outstanding performances in the just-concluded series in India.
Yousuf, who finished as the leading run-getter in the series with 283 runs, climbs two places to be sixth in the LG ICC Players Rankings for ODI batsmen. He has jumped 12 places in the last two series against South Africa and India, including a rise of 10 places following a successful series against Graeme Smith’s side when he scored 286 runs.
Tendulkar may continue to break a billion hearts with his new habit of not converting 90s to add to his collection of 41 centuries, but the consolation for his fan club is another rise in the listings.
The Indian batting legend, who has been dismissed in the nervous 90s six times this year — including twice against Pakistan — was the third leading run-getter with 259 runs and climbs two places to eighth position.
Tendulkar’s series aggregate means he ends the calendar year with 1,425 ODI runs from 33 matches, including 911 runs in the last three series, against England, Australia and Pakistan. Form like that has seen his ranking improve from 21st to eighth and only Matthew Hayden (1,555 runs from 29 matches) has scored more ODI runs in 2007.
Yuvraj’s Player of the Series performance, with 272 runs in the five matches against Pakistan — 58, 34, 77, 53 not out and 50 — has also seen him climb the listings up six places to 11th position.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni retains his 18th position while his Pakistani counterpart Shoaib Malik improves one place to share 24th spot with former India skipper Rahul Dravid, who did not appear in the series.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting tops the batting list and is part of an impressive 1-2-3 for the world champions as he is followed by Andrew Symonds and Hayden, the latter the winner of the ODI Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards in September.
Among the bowlers, there is no representation from India and Pakistan in the top 20 places with Shahid Afridi dropping out of that group, down nine places to 24th spot. The leg-spinner shares his new position with team-mate Iftikhar Anjum, who has achieved a career-best rating, and India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who rises six places.
India’s fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan take a dive in the bowlers’ rankings but Pakistan’s pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul have improved their positions, perhaps a good omen for the visitors ahead of the three-match Test series that begins in New Delhi on Thursday.
Zaheer has slipped to 27th spot, down two places, while Pathan drops three places to 39th position. Akhtar climbs 10 places to 31st after finishing as the second leading wicket-taker in the series with seven victims. Gul is rewarded for his five wickets with a rise of seven places to 36th.
Shaun Pollock of South Africa heads the list, clear of New Zealand’s Shane Bond, Nathan Bracken of Australia and the Sri Lanka duo of left-armer Chaminda Vaas and talismanic spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Pollock also tops the all-rounders’ list from Chris Gayle of the West Indies and Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya.
India’s 3-2 success is enough to lift it into fourth position in the team Championship. Pakistan, which occupied that fourth spot ahead of the series, now drops to sixth place, overtaken not only by India but also by Sri Lanka.
Team rankings as of Nov 20 after India-Pakistan series:
Rank Team Rating
1 Australia 128
2 South Africa 123
3 New Zealand 114
4 India 110
5 Sri Lanka 108
6 Pakistan 107
7 England 107
8 West Indies 102
9 Bangladesh 48
10 Ireland 28
11 Zimbabwe 17
12 Kenya 0