Tendulkar back into the top 20 with two Test centuries in Bangladesh by ICC Media Release

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Scorecard:	Bangladesh v India, England v West Indies
Player:	MJ Prior, Mohammad Yousuf, RT Ponting, M Muralitharan, CS Martin, A Nel, SR Clark, SE Bond, PD Collingwood, SP Fleming, KP Pietersen, Z Khan, A Kumble, RS Dravid, SR Tendulkar
Event:	India in Bangladesh 2007, West Indies in England 2007

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DateLine: 30th May 2007

 

India’s bowlers also improving as Kumble and Zaheer make gains in LG ICC Player Rankings

 

Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar is back into the top 20 of the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after a memorable trip to Bangladesh for the 34-year-old.

 

Tendulkar scored a century in each match, at Chittagong and Mirpur, compiling a total of 254 runs at an average of 127. This marks a significant return to form for the Little Master of Mumbai and has moved him up six places to 15th position in the rankings.

 

Now with a total of 672 ratings points, Tendulkar has Stephen Fleming of New Zealand and England’s Paul Collingwood in his sights, although he is a long way off his own career-best rating of 898 set in 2002.

 

It was a good series for India’s bowlers too with Anil Kumble moving up to third in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers. Kumble is now level with South Africa’s Shaun Pollock and is just ahead of Shane Bond of New Zealand and Australia’s Stuart Clark.

 

Left-arm opening bowler Zaheer Khan also did well for India taking a total of eight wickets at an average of 21.88. In the first innings of the second Test at Mirpur, Zaheer took 5-34, helping to set up victory for his side.

 

As a result he has moved up five places to 24th in the rankings and is closing in on Andre Nel of South Africa and New Zealand’s Chris Martin just ahead of him.

 

Muttiah Muralidaran is still on top of the rankings for Test bowlers, followed in second place by Makhaya Ntini of South Africa with Kumble and Pollock joint third.

 

In the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen Australia captain Ricky Ponting leads from Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf in second spot and England ’s Kevin Pietersen third.

 

Following his double century during the second Test against the West Indies at Headingley, Pietersen became just the 21st batsman in history to achieve a rating in excess of 900 points.

 

There was a big move for England’s wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior who scored a century on his Test debut at Lord’s recently. He followed it up with 75 in the second Test at Headingley and has moved up 15 places to 60th position overall.

 

India is fourth of the LG ICC Test Championship and is now just one ratings point behind Pakistan in third position. Australia still tops the list, well clear of England in second position.

 

LG ICC Test Championship (as at 29 May, after matches at Mirpur and Headingley)

 

Rank Team Rating

 

1 Australia 135

 

2 England 114

 

3 Pakistan 108

 

4 India 107

 

5 Sri Lanka 102

 

6 South Africa 102

 

7 New Zealand 93

 

8 West Indies 72

 

9 Zimbabwe 28

 

10 Bangladesh 1

 

(Developed by David Kendix)

 

 

LG ICC Test Player Rankings (as at 29 May, after matches at Mirpur and Headingley)

 

Batsmen

 

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 936 59.29 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006

 

2 ( - ) Mhd Yousuf Pak 915 56.00 933 v WI at Karachi 2006

 

3 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 909 54.40 909 v WI at Leeds 2007

 

4 ( - ) KC Sangakkara SL 857 50.64 857 v NZ at Wellington 2006

 

5 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 842* 79.85 842 v Eng at Sydney 2007

 

6 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 828 53.00 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002 7 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 820 55.09 896 v Eng at Cape Town 2005

 

8 ( - ) Rahul Dravid Ind 801 57.46 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005

 

9 ( - ) Younis Khan Pak 789 48.21 856 v Eng at Leeds 2006

 

10 ( - ) Ashwell Prince SA 755 42.85 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007

 

11 ( - ) Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak 735 50.07 870 v Eng at Lahore 2005

 

12 ( - ) M Jayawardene SL 710 48.37 836 v Eng at Birmingham 2002

 

13 ( - ) PD Collingwood Eng 694 44.16 730 v Aus at Adelaide 2006

 

14 (+2) Stephen Fleming NZ 674 39.64 702 v Ban at Chittagong 2004

 

15= (+6) SR Tendulkar Ind 672 55.44 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002

 

(+2) Graeme Smith SA 672 47.08 756 v NZ at Wellington 2004

 

17 (-2) Andrew Strauss Eng 664 42.26 769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005

 

18 ( - ) Adam Gilchrist Aus 662 48.66 874 v SA at Cape Town 2002

 

19 (-5) Ian Bell Eng 658 44.48 679 v WI at Lord's 2007

 

20 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 657 42.00 692 v Eng at Perth 2006

 

Bowlers

 

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) M Muralidaran SL 913 21.73 915 v Pak at Lahore 2002

 

2 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini SA 856 27.48 863 v Ind at Durban 2006

 

3= (+1) Anil Kumble Ind 730 28.59 859 v SL at Bangalore 1994

 

( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 730 23.19 909 v Eng at Johannesburg 1999

 

5 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 722* 22.10 778 v WI at Auckland 2006

 

6 ( - ) Stuart Clark Aus 720* 17.80 720 v Eng at Sydney 2007

 

7 (+1) Mohammad Asif Pak 710* 20.12 710 v SA at Cape Town 2007

 

8 (-1) M’thew Hoggard Eng 708 30.30 795 v SL at Birmingham 2006

 

9 (+2) Shoaib Akhtar Pak 698 25.29 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003

 

10 (-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 694 32.02 810 v Pak at Multan 2005

 

11 (-1) Corey Collymore WI 687* 31.86 700 v Eng at Lord's 2007

 

12 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 663 29.44 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005

 

13 ( - ) Danish Kaneria Pak 662 32.36 723 v Eng at Multan 2005

 

14 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 644 31.60 658 v WI at Perth 2000

 

15 ( - ) James Franklin NZ 637* 28.19 679 v SL at Christchurch 2006

 

16 ( - ) Irfan Pathan Ind 618* 30.79 761 v SL at Delhi 2005

 

17 ( - ) Umar Gul Pak 608* 30.62 627 v WI at Karachi 2006

 

18 ( - ) Steve Harmison Eng 604 30.77 875 v WI at The Oval 2004

 

19 (-1) Daniel Vettori NZ 598 34.28 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000

 

20 ( - ) Stuart MacGill Aus 593 27.20 728 v WI at Kingston 1999

 

 

All-rounders

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 462 616 v Pak at Durban 2002

 

2 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 399 501 v Pak at Multan 2005

 

3 ( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 356 490 v Eng at The Oval 2003

 

4 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 329 329 v SL at Wellington 2006

 

5 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 253 281 v Ind at Chennai 2005

 

 

*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.

 

For more information on the LG ICC Player Rankings go to http://www.lgiccrankings.com/