By IANS
Dubai : Anil Kumble was the lone Indian among the top-10 as he retained his sixth spot in the bowler’s list in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings released here Sunday.
Four top Indian batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar (14th), Rahul Dravid (15th), Sourav Ganguly (17th) and V.V.S. Laxman (18th), feature among the top-20 but couldn’t manage to get into the top-10 list.
Kumble with 706 rating points is lying sixth in the list headed by Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (907). South Africa paceman Dale Steyn capped off an excellent series against West Indies and moved up one place to second with 832 points.
The 24-year-old South African took 20 wickets in the three-match series at an average of 19.10 and in the process moved above Australia’s Stuart Clark who is now in third place.
Both bowlers are currently enjoying the best rating of their respective careers so far and Clark has the opportunity to go back into second place during the upcoming Perth Test as he is just two ratings points behind Steyn.
Australia’s Brett Lee in fourth and South Africa’s Makhaya Ntini in fifth position.
Among the batsmen, Kumar Sangakkara is still leading the pack and is followed by Jacques Kallis of South Africa, whose 74 was not enough to overtake the left-hander from Sri Lanka. Third is Australia’s Ricky Ponting, who has a chance to make up ground on the top two with the third Test against India coming up in Perth on Thursday.
In what was his final Test match, South Africa hero Shaun Pollock was carried off on the shoulders of his team-mates knowing that he is calling time on his career while still very near the top of his game.
His four-wicket haul in the first innings indicated that there are few better seamers in world cricket and it moved him up a place to eighth in the Test bowlers list.
Batsmen
1. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 933
2. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 917
3. Ricky Ponting (Australia) 901
4. Mike Hussey (Australia) 900
5. Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan) 880
6. Matthew Hayden (Australia) 858
7. Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka) 835
8. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) 816
9. Kevin Pietersen (England) 804
10. Younis Khan (Pakistan) 799
Bowlers
1. Muttiah Muralidaran (Sri Lanka) 907
2. Dale Steyn (South Africa) 832
3. Stuart Clark (Australia) 830
4. Brett Lee (Australia) 773
5. Makhaya Ntini (South Africa) 768
6. Anil Kumble (India) 761
7. Shane Bond (New Zealand) 716
8. Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 702
9. Matthew Hoggard (England) 695
10. Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) 684
All-rounders
1. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 527
2. Andrew Flintoff (England) 340
3. Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 323
4. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) 321
5. Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) 276