Saurav Ganguly takes the lead in Pepsi ratings (10 Sep 1996)

10 September 1996

Saurav Ganguly takes the lead in Pepsi ratings

Rediff On The Net

Indian cricket`s latest sensation, Saurav Ganguly, returned to his native Calcutta after spearheading an abortive challenge against hosts Sri Lanka, Australia and Zimbabwe. Confirmed that he had indeed married Dona Roy, the danseuse and girl next door who had stolen his heart in true filmi fashion and in the teeth of parental opposition, and a day later found himself confirmed at the top of the international batting averages.

The latest Pepsi rankings, in fact, reveal no changes. Ganguly tops with 9548 points, followed by West Indians Jimmy Adams (8839 points) and Sherwin Campbell (8779 points) with Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar bringing up fourth place with 8750 points.

Interestingly, thanks to his exploits in England, Ganguly has built up a lead of over 1,000 points over his skipper, Tendulkar.

England opener Alec Stewart, thanks to a brilliant century in the final Test of the Cornhill Series against Pakistan at the Oval a fortnight ago, moves up five places to take over fifth spot (7448 points) followed by three Pakistanis - wicket-keeper Moin Khan at six with 7197 points, Inzamam ul Haq at eight with 6602 points, and Ijaz Ahmed at nine with 6579 points.

Nasser Hussain (6567 points), the England number three batsman, slumped to nine in the rankings thanks to a mediocre showing against England after a run of good scores against India earlier in the summer. Nathan Astle, the New Zealand opener, brings up the number ten slot.

This must be read in context of the fact that Australia, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, to name just three nations, have not played any Tests in the last six months. Thus, while numbers 11-20 again feature Indians (Rahul Dravid, at 12), Pakistanis (Saeed Anwar at 13, Salim Malik at 14), Englishmen (John Crawley at 11, Michael Atherton at 15, Graham Thorpe at 16, Jack Russell at 17 and Nick Knight at 19) and a couple of West Indians (Brian Lara at 18, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul at 20), none of the Aussies or Sri Lankans figure in the listing.

The imbalance will be remedied later this year, when Australia gets back to the Test arena with a one-off Test against India followed by a six Test series against the West Indies.

The top ten bowlers are, again, indicative of the fact that in the past six months, only England, India and Pakistan have been involved in Test action. Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed tops the rankings thanks to his outstanding showing during the recent Cornhill Series against England, in course of which he spearheaded his team to wins in the first Test at Lord`s and the third Test at the Oval, and has 8035 points.

Venkatesh Prasad continues to remain in second spot with 7694 points, followed by Waqar Younis with 7632, Allan Mullally of England with 7604, Wasim Akram with 6964, Javagal Srinath with 6942, Chris Lewis with 6870 and Dominic Cork with 6635.

The battle for the ratings should heat up a month from now, when all the leading nations get involved in Test action across the globe.

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