Team India falls with a thud, drops to fifth spot in ODI table

Dubai, May 30 (UNI) In the aftermath of its 1-4 series debacle against the West Indies, Team India dropped two places to the fifth spot in the LG ICC ODI Championship table, while the defeat had sobering effect on some of its star players, including Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan in the Player Rankings.

The Men in Blue went into the series in third position in the table, just three rating points behind second-placed South Africa and with a chance to cut that lead to only one point if they won all five matches.

That looked possible given India's excellent ODI form coming into the series, with 18 wins from its previous 24 matches, but after they won the first match, the wheels came off, four defeats followed and India has now slipped back to fifth in the table.

The 4-1 loss has seen it drop five rating points and that is enough to place it below Pakistan and New Zealand, as well as South Africa and runaway leaders Australia, which is 13 points clear at the summit.

And the players' individual rankings were not spared either.

Dhoni began the series in second place in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, within touching distance of the top spot, which he held briefly last month before he was overtaken by Adam Gilchrist of Australia.

However, a return of only 95 runs from five innings has seen Dhoni drop two places to fourth and he now trails not only Gilchrist but also the West Indies' Ramnaresh Sarwan, up nine spots to second position, and Australia captain Ricky Ponting, currently in third place.

Like Dhoni, Pathan has endured a series to forget, something reflected in the LG ICC Player Rankings.

Also like Dhoni, he started the tour in second place, this time in the bowling list, but six wickets in four matches has seen him slide to seventh, although there are relatively few rating points between many of the players in that top group.

With the bat, Pathan is down ten spots to 57th place while, in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, he has slid two spots and now finds himself in fifth position.

Captain Dravid has dropped out of the batting top 10, down three places to 12th, but it is not all doom and gloom for India in the player ratings.

Virender Sehwag's excellent form has seen him move into the top 20, up six places to 18th, Yuvraj Singh remains in 10th place and Mohammad Kaif is up eight spots to 46th position.

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