India can jump to second in LG ICC Test Championship but could fall as low as seventh following series with England that starts on Thursday

India can move up to second from its present position of fifth in the LG ICC Test Championship with a clean sweep of England during the three-match series that gets underway at Lord's on Thursday.

Currently on 102 rating points, Rahul Dravid's team can gain nine points to 111 and in the process leap-frog South Africa, Sri Lanka and England, with the latter dropping from 115 to 108 were that to happen.

A 2-0 win would lift the Indians to third spot, just behind Michael Vaughan's side, while even a 2-1 or 1-0 series victory would elevate them to fourth and within striking distance of Sri Lanka.

Mind you, at the same time there is plenty for India to lose if all does not go to plan in England over the course of the next few weeks and it could even end the series as low as seventh on the LG ICC Test Championship.

A 3-0 or 2-0 win for England would see India drop below Pakistan and New Zealand with just the West Indies and Bangladesh below it on the table.

For the home team, the only way is down as England cannot catch Australia during this series but it could fall to third if India manages to win each match. The hosts are currently are 26 rating points behind Australia and could close that gap to 22 with a 3-0 series win.

Meanwhile, England's bowlers have a real chance of making further progress in the LG ICC Player Rankings if they do well in these three matches. Slow left-armer Monty Panesar is currently in a career-best ranking of sixth, equal with team-mate Matthew Hoggard, and either could conceivably rise as high as third if things go their way.

Panesar, in particular, will be full of confidence after a fine four-match series against the West Indies earlier in the English summer where he took 23 wickets at an average of 18.13. Another group of performances like that has the potential to lift him above Shane Bond, Shaun Pollock and even perhaps Anil Kumble into third.

No doubt the veteran India spinner will be doing his utmost to stop that from happening.

In the West Indies series, Hoggard played in just the first and fourth Tests due to a thigh strain but is now back to full fitness and with front-line fast bowler Steve Harmison ruled out of the entire series the Yorkshire man will be the man leading the attack.

With India having only one top-20 bowler currently in the squad (Kumble), this series will be an opportunity for several members of its attack to make a breakthrough into that elite group with the most likely candidate being Zaheer Khan, who is currently in 25th spot.

As far as the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen is concerned, Alistair Cook (20th) and Paul Collingwood (14th) of England will want to move further up within the top 20 while it will also be a chance for third-placed Kevin Pietersen to keep the pressure up on Ricky Ponting of Australia in first position and Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf in second.

Dravid in eighth position and Sachin Tendulkar in 16th will be anxious to move further up the log.