Thaindian News

Dubai, Sep.15 (ANI): Indian opening bat Sachin Tendulkar has returned to the top 10 of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen for the first time in 10 months after scoring his 44th one-day century for India.

The century earned his team a 46-run victory over Sri Lanka in the final of the Compaq tri-series in Colombo on Monday.

Tendulkar, who scored 138 in India’s highly competitive total of 320, has leaped five places to seventh in the latest rankings which were released on Tuesday.

Tendulkar, who also finished as the leading run-scorer in the series with 211 runs, had slipped out of the top 10 after the home series against England in November 2008 after he was rested for the first three ODIs of the five-match series which India won 5-0.

Also moving up the order was Sri Lanka’s veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya whose series contribution of 141 has helped him return to the top 20. The 40-year-old from Matara has jumped four places to 17th spot.

However, Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has failed to defend his 11th position and has fallen to 15th spot after scoring just 56 runs in three matches.

India openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have also dropped two places each after both missed the series due to injuries. A player loses one per cent of his rating for every match he misses.

New Zealand’s Ross Taylor and Mahela Jayawardena are the biggest losers in the latest rankings. Taylor has slipped five places to 22nd and Jayawardena has slipped seven places to share 37th spot with Australia’s Brad Haddin.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni leads the batting table from his vice-captain Yuvraj Singh who has achieved his career-best second place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders.

Yuvraj has leapfrogged Jacques Kallis of South Africa, Jacob Oram of New Zealand and Andrew Flintoff of England into second place after scoring 80 runs with the bat and taking four wickets with the ball.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, New Zealand’s Kyle Mills has dropped two places to fourth and this has allowed Daniel Vettori and Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh to move up the order.

New Zealand’s Shane Bond has returned to the rankings in eighth position after he was removed earlier this year in 14th place as he had not played an ODI since before the qualification date for the rankings.

Thilan Thushara, Ishant Sharma and Lasith Malinga have also moved in the right direction, jumping six places each to 24th, 33rd and 42nd positions respectively.

The Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings will now be updated at the end of England and Australia ODI series which concludes on 20 September. (ANI)