Dhoni breaks Australian dominance at top of LG batting rankings

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has smashed his way into third place in the LG ICC ODI batting rankings, becoming the first Indian ODI batsman to occupy a top three slot since Sachin Tendulkar in 2004.

Dhoni was only dismissed once in hitting 219 runs in four innings against Pakistan at a strike rate of 136.87. His ascendancy breaks an Australian stranglehold on the top of the table which had seen the World Champions holding the top four places after the recent VB series.

Dhoni is joined in the top 10 by the leading run scorer of the series, Yuvraj Singh, who has climbed to ninth in the official table. Rahul Dravid, tenth, is the next ranked Indian with Tendulkar in the middle of a glut of similarly-rated players in 17th place.

Irfan Pathan was the other player to benefit most from India's ODI success in Pakistan. As well as being fourth in the bowling table his 65-run contribution in the first match of the series has helped lift him to fourth in the list of all-rounders.

The margin of the series victory has lifted India into fourth place in the LG ICC ODI Championship, putting them ahead of Pakistan for the first time since June 2004. A successful home ODI series against England in March and April could see India climb as high as second.

India's resurgence means New Zealand must stay on a winning path to hold onto third place in the official ODI table. After one ODI against the West Indies they have the same number of points as India but remain a place higher when the ratings are recalculated to three decimal places.

Further down the table, Sri Lanka must win all of their three matches against Bangladesh to climb from seventh to sixth. The fight for sixth place in the table is becoming increasingly crucial as the team that is seventh on 1 April* will have to play off against the eighth, ninth and tenth placed sides for the right to take part in the second round of the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 in India. If Sri Lanka wins 3-0 in Bangladesh it will move one point ahead of England, leaving Michael Vaughan's side only two matches against India to earn enough points to reclaim sixth spot.

Full details of the current LG ICC ODI Championship and how future results will impact on the table, as well as the LG ICC Player Rankings can be found here

* India, as hosts, will automatically qualify for the second stage of next year's ICC Champions Trophy even if they are outside the top six of the LG ICC ODI Championship table on 1 April 2006. If they are outside that top six then the sixth-placed side in the table will take part in the preliminary round.