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Tendulkar storms to the top
05/03/2008 11:11 - (SA)
Dubai - India's little master batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, has stormed to the top of LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after brilliant performances in the tri-series final against Australia which concluded in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Tendulkar jumped 10 places to top spot after scoring 399 runs in the series, including match-winning knocks of 117 not out and 91 in the finals in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.
It is almost three-and-a-half years since the 34-year-old from Mumbai has been at the top of the one-day chart. Tendulkar, who has scored 16 361 runs with 42 centuries, last spearheaded the batting chart in August 2004 during the series against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Tendulkar had entered the series in eighth place on 736 points and after battling the ups and downs during a keenly contested series, finished on 777 points to lead Australia captain Ricky Ponting by seven points.
Ponting dropped to second place after occupying the coveted position since the fifth ODI against India in Baroda in October last year. The Tasmanian had started the tri-series on 832 points but lost 62 points after scoring just 191 runs in 10 matches, including a top score of 124.
Top of batting list
Ponting is in danger of losing further ground if his South African opposite number, Graeme Smith, displays the same form in the ODI series against Bangladesh he showed in the Test series. Smith is in third place and just 17 points adrift.
Australia opener Matthew Hayden, besides Tendulkar, is the only big name to have made movement in the right direction. He climbed two places to finish eighth following his 298-run contribution.
However, Australia wicketkeeper, Adam Gilchrist's hopes of ending his career on top of the batting list, were dashed when the 36-year-old from New South Wales signed off in sixth place after dropping four positions.
Gilchrist scored 9 619 runs and dismissed 472 batsmen behind the wickets and held the top slot on numerous occasions between 2002 and 2006.
Gilchrist had started the series in 16th position and gained 56 points after scoring 322 runs.
Australia duo of Mike Hussey and Andrew Symonds managed to hold their places in seventh and 14th positions respectively.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped one place to 10th, Australia's Michael Clarke slipped seven places to 12th, India's Yuvraj Singh fell one place to 18th while India's Gautam Gambhir, who was the leading run-getter of the series with 440 runs, slipped one place to 27th.
Rocketed
While some of the most accomplished batsmen struggled to retain their rankings, a couple of newcomers made an instant impact.
India's Rohit Sharma rocketed 21 places to 88th position and Australia's James Hopes jumped 11 places to 99th spot.
In the rankings for ODI bowlers, Australia fast bowler Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson failed to retain their places. Lee dropped two places to seventh while Johnson failed to enter the top 10 and instead slipped four places to 15th.
Harbhajan Singh, however, improved three places to 18th spot to become his country's only bowler in that group while Praveen Kumar climbed 47 places to 75th and Irfan Pathan slipped six places to 36th position.
The bowlers list is still headed by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori with Player of the Series Nathan Bracken in second place, 20 points behind.
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