Monday, March 16, 2009

Sachin, Sehwag move up in ICC ODI Rankings

DUBAI: Virender Sehwag broke into top 10 and Sachin Tendulkar returned to top 20 in batsmen's chart while Yuvraj Singh rose to a career-best third place in the all-rounder's table following India's 3-1 series win against New Zealand.

Sehwag and Tendulkar were the biggest movers in the ICC ODI Player Rankings after their splendid performance in the recent series against New Zealand.

Sehwag, who scored 299 runs against the Black Caps, jumped nine places to sixth position in the latest rankings for ODI batsmen, headed by his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

It is the first time in nearly six years that Sehwag has occupied a place in the top 10.

Tendulkar has also made a movement in the right direction as his series scores of 20, 61 and 163 not out have helped him vault eight places to 13th spot.

Yuvraj and Gautam Gambhir, however, dropped one and four places respectively in the batsmen's chart. Yuvraj now sits in fourth place while Gambhir shares 16th spot with South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs.

However in the all-rounders' table, Yuvraj entered the top five for the first time in his career. He has leapfrogged West Indies captain Chris Gayle and Jacob Oram of New Zealand to share third place with Pakistan's Shoaib Malik.

Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan leads the field with Andrew Flintoff in second place.

Meanwhile in the rankings for ODI bowlers, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has fallen off the top spot and now sits in fifth place after managing just two wickets in the series which was dominated by the Indian batsmen.

Vettori's drop has benefitted Sri Lanka fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara who, for the first time in his career, has surged to the top. Australia fast bowler Nathan Bracken is in second place while Kyle Mills of New Zealand is third.

In the ICC ODI Championship, India has gained two ratings points for its 3-1 series win. It has lifted it to 122 rating points and puts it just two ratings points behind second-placed Australia and three behind leader South Africa.

In contrast, New Zealand has conceded two ratings points for the series loss and is now only one rating point ahead of Pakistan.

Source:http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sehwag-rockets-into-top-10-in-ICC-ODI-Rankings/articleshow/4270560.cms

No comments: