India bearing down on sides above them in LG ICC ODI Championship

India's crushing 6-1 success in their ODI series against Sri Lanka has left Rahul Dravid's men within touching distance of a host of sides above them in the LG ICC ODI Championship.

The wins have lifted India's rating to 107 points, just 1 point behind sixth-placed New Zealand and only two behind Sri Lanka and England, which occupy fourth and fifth spots on the table respectively.

A clean sweep of their next engagement, a five-match series against South Africa starting in Hyderabad on Wednesday 16 November, would lift them to 114 points overtaking all the above mentioned sides plus the Proteas (who would slip to110 points), and into third place with only Pakistan and Australia ahead of them.

A 4-1 success for India in that series would raise their rating to 112 points and cut South Africa's to 113, while even a 3-2 success for the home team would take them above New Zealand, England and Sri Lanka, to 110 points (South Africa would drop to 117).

For South Africa, a 3-2 success would see them maintain their current rating of 120 (under that scenario India would rise 1 point, to 108), a 4-1 win would lift them to 123 points (India would slip to 106) and a 5-0 clean sweep would take Graeme Smith's side to 127 points (India 103), just nine points short of leaders Australia.

India's wins over Sri Lanka have been a triumph not just for the team but also for several individuals, who have surged up the LG ICC Player Rankings.

Dravid has moved up 18 places during the series, is now India's top-rated batsman and is close to his highest-ever rating, while Sachin Tendulkar has also returned to the top ten, in joint ninth spot, after his long-term elbow injury.

Mahendra Dhoni has smashed into the top 20 for the first time on the back of his outstanding form, climbing a whopping 38 places from the start of the series, and he now occupies 16th place in the batting listings.

Below that trio is Virender Sehwag (25th) while Yuvraj Singh has moved up to 31st in the table and is now just short of his best-ever rating.

The news is just as good for India with the ball. Irfan Pathan has moved into the top ten (10th) and they have two other bowlers, Harbhajan Singh (13th) and Ajit Agarkar (16th), in the top 20 with Agarkar also closing in on his best-ever rating.

For Sri Lanka, the news is not quite as good. They now have just one batsman, Kumar Sangakkara (8th), in the top ten with Marvan Atapattu sliding nine places during the series to 18th while Sanath Jayasuriya, dropped from the Test squad, has also dropped out of the top 20 and is now 23rd in the batting listings.

Mahela Jayawardene is holding at number 30 but one ray of light is the return to the top 50 of Russel Arnold, who has moved up to number 49.

Among the bowlers, Muttiah Muralidaran is still in third spot but Chaminda Vaas has dropped to ninth in the listings.