Pakistan replaces England at no. 2 spot; Dravid, Kumble in top 10

Dubai, Jul 12 (UNI) India will be praying for a clean sweep for the Poms when England meet Pakistan, for such an outcome would see Inzamam-ul Haq's men slump to the fourth spot, pushing Rahul Dravid's men to third in the process.

Despite breaking a 35-year-old jinx and winning the four-match Test series in the Caribbeans, India had hardly any reason to smile.

First the team slumped to the fourth spot after the not-so-impressive show and individually, only Rahul Dravid (second) and Anil Kumble (8th) could manage to hang on in the top 10 list of batsmen and bowlers, respectively.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have already received a morale booster ahead of the four-Test away series against England when they displaced the Poms from the second place in the annual update of the LG ICC Test Rankings.

Thanks to a succession of excellent series results, which included wins against England, India and Sri Lanka, Inzamam's side is now just 10 points behind the leaders Australia (130) and a clean sweep over hosts England in the series beginning tomorrow would put it within three points of the Aussies.

However, if England wins the series, it will move back above Pakistan while a 4-0 home success would move it to within 10 points of Australia and drop Pakistan into fourth place, below India who are currently four rating points behind England (113).

Both sides are struggling with injuries to key bowlers ahead of the series with England missing Simon Jones, Ashley Giles, Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson and also facing up to the possibility of being without Matthew Hoggard, who cut his bowling hand in a freak accident over the weekend.

But Pakistan is barely better off as it is missing Shoaib Ahktar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and has injury clouds hovering over Mohammad Sami and Mohammad Asif.

Hoggard is the highest-placed player on either side in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, in fifth place. Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria lies in 13th spot while Stephen Harmison, fit again after missing the Sri Lanka Test series with a leg injury, is 17th.

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