Team India moves up to 4th in ICC ODI rankings

Dubai, Oct 23: Team India has jumped a rung to fourth in the latest LG ICC ODI Championship table after their win over England in the ongoing Champions Trophy.

Rahul Dravid's side is in with a chance to return to third in the rankings if it scores victories over West Indies and Australia in it's remaining group ties, according to an ICC release here.

With top-ranked Australia and second-placed South Africa losing ground on their nearest rivals following defeats in their opening matches of the ICC event in India, the way is now clear for a buoyant Indian side to close the gap.

The hosts play West Indies in Ahmedabad on Thursday in an effort to secure safe passage to the semi-finals of the competition.

However, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's slip from eighth to 10th in the rankings for batsmen comes as a disappointment for the Indians. The dashing stumper lost his place to his Sri Lankan counterpart Kumar Sangakkara.

Meanwhile, South African captain Graeme Smith and West Indian all-rounder Chris Gayle are putting pressure on the Australian pair of Mike Hussey and Adam Gilchrist at the top of the list for ODI batsmen with some good performances in the Champions Trophy.

Gayle's fine shows, particularly his unbeaten century against Bangladesh, have moved him up five places in the batting list to fourth overall. The 27-year-old Jamaican is also up five places in the bowling rankings to 24th position and he retains his position as the second-best ODI all-rounder behind South Africa's Shaun Pollock.

Another big mover is Pollock's team-mate Smith, who has moved up four places to third overall in the Rankings for ODI batsmen following his 42 in a losing cause against New Zealand at Mumbai last week.

But with just 10 ratings points separating third and seventh, there is likely to be plenty more movement before the end of the tournament.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting, meanwhile, has dropped five places to ninth in the batting list after a disappointing start to his ICC Champions Trophy campaign. Hussey and Gilchrist maintain their positions at one and two respectively as both have contributed meaningfully with the bat.

Meanwhile, the biggest mover has been Upul Tharanga of Sri Lanka, who has shot up 28 places to 16th after hitting two fine centuries in the preliminary stage of the tournament, 38 against Pakistan last week and 56 against the Black Caps on Friday.

In the bowling rankings, Pollock has retained his place at the top, well clear of Australia's Brett Lee in second. Lee is under severe pressure from West Indian Ian Bradshaw, who has moved up three places and is now just two ratings points behind him. Bradshaw's team-mate Jerome Taylor has moved up 11 places to 33rd after his fine performance against Australia last week, which included the first hat-trick by a West Indian in an ODI.

The biggest mover in the bowling rankings has been Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga, who has gone up 24 places to number 28 after a solid start to the tournament.

LG ICC ODI Championship: 1. Australia 2. South Africa 3. Pakistan 4. India 5. New Zealand 6.

Sri Lanka 7. West Indies 8. England 9. Bangladesh 10. Zimbabwe 11. Kenya LG ICC ODI Player Rankings: Batsmen (Top 10): 1. Mike Hussey, Aus 2. Adam Gilchrist, Aus 3. Graeme Smith, SA 4.

Chris Gayle. Wi and Ramnaresh Sarwan, WI 6. Kevin Pietersen, Eng 7.

Andrew Symonds, Aus 8. Kumar Sangakkara, SL 9. Ricky Ponting, Aus 10. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ind Bowlers (Top 10): 1. Shaun Pollock, SA 2. Brett Lee, Aus 3. Ian Bradshaw, WI 4. Nathan Bracken, Aus 5. Daniel Vettori, NZ 6. Glenn McGrath, Aus 7. Shane Bond, NZ 8. Muttiah Muralitharan, SL 9. Harbhajan Singh, Ind and Irfan Pathan, Ind All-rounders (Top 10): 1. Shaun Pollock, SA 2. Chris Gayle, WI 3. Andrew Flintoff, Eng 4.

Sanath Jayasuriya, SL 5. Irfan Pathan, Ind 6. Andrew Symonds, Aus 7.

Shoaib Malik, Pak 8. Abdul Razzaq, Pak 9. Scott Styris, NZ 10. Paul Collingwood, Eng.

UNI