TENDULKAR: NOT THE BEST ANYMORE?

Once a master blaster and now a fading star. Is this true when we talk about Sachin Tendulkar? With just 95 runs from 6 innings coming from his bat in the 3-Test series vs Sri Lanka, Tendulkar has dropped to his lowest ranking in 15 years in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.

Tendulkar, who started the series in 13th position, finished in 23rd place after scoring 95 runs at 15.83. He drops six places after scores of six and 14 in the third and final Test which Sri Lanka won by eight wickets to clinch the series 2-1.

It is his lowest ranking since late 1992 after spending over 15 years in the top 20 apart from a very brief spell at the end of 2006.

Tendulkar, who is just 76 runs short of becoming the leading run-getter in Test cricket history, last occupied the top batting position six years ago after the 2002 Headingley Test in England.
Tendulkar’s drop is the only bad news for India batting as others have made good upward progress.

Virender Sehwag has become the highest-ranked India’s batsman after returning to the top 10 for the first time since March 2006. Sehwag, who scored an impressive 344 runs in the series, has lifted one place to 10th with Pakistan’s Yunus Khan firmly within his sights.

VVS Laxman, who scored 25 and 61 not out in the series decider, has climbed three places to 15th position while Rahul Dravid shares 16th place with England’s Alastair Cook. Dravid improves his position by two places after scores of 10 and 68 while Cook jumps four places following his contribution of 39 and 67 in The Oval Test.

Saurav Ganguly has improved his ranking by one place and now sits in 25th position while opener Gautam Gambhir, who was the second leading run-getter for his side with 310 runs, is in 37th place after jumping 12 places.

For Sri Lanka, Kumar Sangakkara has just missed out on reclaiming the top slot from the West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The 30-year-old from Matale, who dropped to fifth after the second Test in Galle, has jumped to second position after hitting a superlative 144 in Sri Lanka’s first innings score of 396.

However, a knock of just four in the second innings, when Sri Lanka was chasing 123 for victory, denied him the top place.

In sharp contrast to the India batmen, Sri Lanka batsmen have just strengthened their current batting positions without gaining many places.

Captain Mahela Jayawardena stays in sixth position, Tillekeratne Dilshan maintains 31st spot, Thilan Samaraweera retains 33rd position while Malinda Warnapura climbs up five places to 40th position.

Like Tendulkar, South Africa’s most accomplished batsman Jacques Kallis has also paid the price for a run of bad form by dropping out of the top 10 for the first time since March 2003.
Kallis scored 104 runs at 14.85, including scores of two and nine at The Oval, and has dropped three places to 11th. Kallis, who started the series in sixth place, had briefly held the top batting slot in 2005.

While captain Graeme Smith has firmly held on to his 12th position, AB de Villiers has achieved his career-best 18th position. He was South Africa’s leading run-getter in the series with 384 runs, including knocks of 39 and 97 in the last Test of the series that has helped him to rise four places.

Ashwell Price, who scored four and 24 at The Oval, has dropped four places to share 19th spot with West Indies’ Ramnaresh Sarwan while Neil McKenzie has slipped two places to 26th position, one ahead of team-mate Hashim Amla who is up three to 27th place.

Apart from Cook, Paul Collingwood is the other England batsman to make movement in the right direction. The Durham all-rounder scored 61 and 25 not out at The Oval which has helped him to climb four places to 21st position.

Captain Kevin Pietersen has strengthened his eighth position but Ian Bell and Pietersen’s predecessor Michael Vaughan have lost significant ground in batting list. Bell has dropped six places to 22nd spot while Vaughan sits in 41st position after losing four places.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, South Africa’s Makhaya Ntini has swapped places with England’s Ryan Sidebottom who missed the last Test. Ntini had figures of 7-149 which has put him in clear fifth position while Sidebottom has dropped to sixth after losing one per cent of his rating for missing the match.

England’s Monty Panesar has jumped three places to share 10th place with India captain Anil Kumble who has dropped a place following figures of 3-157 in the third Test at Colombo.

England fast bowler James Anderson, who started the series in 26th place, has rocketed to a career-best 15th position. The Lancastrian was the joint-leading wicket-taker with South Africa’s Morne Morkel with 15 wickets, including 5-127 in England’s consolation victory at The Oval.

Harbhajan Singh, Andrew Flintoff and Zaheer Khan, who are the other bowlers in the top 20, have lost one place each. They are now in 12th, 16th and 19th positions respectively while Kallis has improved his bowling ranking by two places and is now in 20th place after figures of 3-61 at The Oval.

Sri Lanka’s bowling sensation Ajanta Mendis has jumped to 30th position only after three Tests. The 23-year-old from Moratuwa took 26 wickets in his debut series at little over 18, including 8-137 in the third Test at Colombo.

Muttiah Muralidaran is still on top of the bowling chart, leading second-placed Australia fast bowler Stuart Clark and third-placed Dale Steyn of South Africa by a comfortable margin.

There is little change in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders with Sri lanka’s Chaminda Vaas returning to the top five. He has replaced New Zealand’s Jacob Oram who has slipped to sixth.

The list is still headed by Kallis with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori second and Flintoff in third place.

Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen and bowlers (as of 12 August)
Batsmen
Rank +/- Player Team Points Avge HS Rating
1 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 890! 49.08 890 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
2 (+3) K.C.Sangakkara SL 886 54.79 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
3 (-1) Mike Hussey Aus 882 68.38 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
4= (-1) Ricky Ponting Aus 880 58.37 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
(-1) Mohd Yousuf Pak 880 55.49 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
6 ( - ) M.Jayawardena SL 837 52.41 847 v Ind at Colombo (SSC) 2008
7 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 834 53.51 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
8 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 829 50.51 905 v WI at Headingley 2007
9 (+1) Yunus Khan Pak 799 49.14 856 v Eng at Headingley 2006
10 (+1) Virender Sehwag Ind 786 52.62 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
11 (-3) Jacques Kallis SA 774 55.46 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
12 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 739 49.23 759 v Eng at Edgbaston 2008
13 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 723 47.06 761 v Ind at Melbourne 2007
14 ( - ) Andrew Symonds Aus 700* 44.65 718 v WI at Antigua 2008
15 (+3) VVS Laxman Ind 699 43.79 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
16= (+2) Rahul Dravid Ind 686 53.92 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
(+4) Alastair Cook Eng 686 42.88 707 v SL at Galle 2007
18 (+4) AB de Villiers SA 679! 41.61 679 v Eng at The Oval 2008
19= (+2) R.R.Sarwan WI 659 40.40 697 v Eng at Old Trafford 2004
(-4) Ashwell Prince SA 659 42.23 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007



Bowlers
Rank +/- Player Team Points Avge HS Rating
1 ( - ) M.Muralidaran SL 895 21.96 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
2 ( - ) Stuart Clark Aus 863*! 21.46 863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008
3 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 847 22.51 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
4 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 793 29.58 811 v WI at Antigua 2008
5 (+1) Makhaya Ntini SA 760 28.22 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
6 (-1) Ryan Sidebottom Eng 738* 25.68 769 v SA at Lord's 2008
7= ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 684 29.31 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
(+1) Shoaib Akhtar Pak 684 25.69 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
9 (+1) Shane Bond NZ 668* 22.39 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
10= (-1) Anil Kumble Ind 653 29.34 859 v SL at Bangalore 1994
(+3) Monty Panesar Eng 653 31.95 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
12 (-1) Harbhajan Singh Ind 641 30.87 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
13 (-1) Jerome Taylor WI 628*! 34.69 628 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
14 (+5) James Anderson Eng 620! 34.51 620 v SA at The Oval 2008
15 (-1) Mohammad Asif Pak 619* 23.13 710 v SA at Cape Town 2007
16 (-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 615 32.21 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
17 (-1) Danish Kaneria Pak 614 33.90 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
18 (-1) Zaheer Khan Ind 611 34.06 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
19 (-1) Matthew Hoggard Eng 593 30.50 795 v SL at Edgbaston 2006
20 (+2) Jacques Kallis SA 592 31.22 742 v Eng at Headingley 2003



All-rounders
Rank +/- Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 458 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 324 360 v Eng at Lord's 2008
3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 302 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
4 ( - ) Dwayne Bravo WI 295/*! 295 v Aus at Bridgetown 2008
5 (+1) Chaminda Vaas SL 281 300 v WI at Guyana 2008



*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
!indicates career-highest rating