Dhoni static at fifth, no India bowler in top 10

Dubai, Dec 27 (UNI) Dashing stumper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was sole Indian batsman in the top 10 as he clung on to his fifth spot in the latest LG ICC ODI Rankings.

Besides Dhoni (757 points), Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid were the other other two Team India batsmen in the top 20 with the former at 14th place while the skipper a notch below at 15th.

Australian Mike Hussey (821 points) rules the roost while England's middle-order mainstay Kevin Pietersen is occupying the second spot.

In the bowlers' leaderboard, Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan were static at 14th and 18th spot respectively as no other Indian bowlers figured in the top 20.

After a fantastic series against India, Shaun Pollack was on the top of the world with 910 points while Aussie ace Glenn McGrath, who's announced that he will retire after the World Cup in Carribean, is a distant second with a point shy of 800.

The Protea also tops the all-rounder list with 477 points.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka can jump two places to third in the LG ICC ODI Championship if it completes a clean-sweep of New Zealand in the five-match ODI series that gets underway in Napier tomorrow.

But in what is a closely packed table, Mahela Jayawardene's team could also drop as low as seventh if it loses the series 5-0.

At present, there are only nine ratings points separating third and seventh in the LG ICC ODI Championship.

Third-placed New Zealand needs to win the series to avoid dropping below Pakistan in the table and if it loses by just one game, it will fall two places to fifth. Even if the Black Caps tie the series, they will drop to fourth so there is plenty at stake for the team, which will be led in the first two ODIs by Daniel Vettori in the absence of Stephen Fleming who is being rested.

Rankings: Team: 1 Australia (131), 2. South Africa (126), 3. New Zealand (113), 4.

Pakistan (112), 5. Sri Lanka (108), 6. India (106), 7. West Indies (104), 8 England (99), 9 Bangladesh (41), 10. Zimbabwe (23) Batsmen: 1. Mike Hussey (Aus, 821), 2. Kevin Pietersen (Eng, 776), 3. Chris Gayle (WI, 775), 4. Adam Gilchrist (Aus, 769), 5. Mahendra Dhoni (Ind, 757) 6. Andrew Symonds (Aus, 753), 7. Ricky Ponting (Aus, 740) 8 R R Sarwan (WI, 724), 9. K C Sangakkara (SL, 723), 10.

Michael Clarke (Aus, 711).

Bowlers: 1. Shaun Pollock (SA, 910) 2. Glenn McGrath (Aus, 799) 3.

Nathan Bracken (Aus, 752) 4. Ian Bradshaw (WI, 746) 5. Makhaya Ntini (SA, 742) 6. Brett Lee (Aus, 741), 7. Shane Bond (NZ, 730) 8. Daniel Vettori (NZ, 725) 9. M Muralitharan (SL, 712) 10. Chaminda Vaas (SL, 706) All-rounders: 1. Shaun Pollock (SA, 477) 2. Chris Gayle (WI, 446, 3.

S T Jayasuriya (SL, 370), 4 Andrew Flintoff (Eng, 365), 5. Andrew Symonds (Aus, 337) UNI XC DH AY KN1610