Tendulkar's climb up LG ICC Player Rankings is consolation for India following series loss

India may have lost its ODI series with England but at least one of its players, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, can draw personal comfort from the fact he is moving in the right direction in the LG ICC Player Rankings.

The right-hander was India's top run-scorer in the seven-match encounter with 374 runs (only the man of the series Ian Bell, with 422 runs, scored more), including four half-centuries.

And that form has lifted Tendulkar up nine places to joint 12th in the batting list, alongside South Africa's Jacques Kallis.

It is the batsman's highest position in the rankings since March 2006, when he briefly touched 11th position, and suggests there is plenty still left in his batting locker despite media suggestions of impending retirement from one form of the game.

But while Tendulkar's rise in the rankings is good news for the player himself and India cricket fans, not so positive for either is the fact that India has dropped one place in the LG ICC ODI Championship table.

Rahul Dravid's side lost two rating points because of its 4-3 loss to England and that puts India below Pakistan. The two sides both have 108 points but Pakistan is placed higher in the table, in fifth position, when the ratings are recalculated to three decimal places.

Conversely, Paul Collingwood's side, which secured its first victory in a home ODI series since 2003, has gained three rating points and has not only overtaken the West Indies and moved into seventh place, but is also now within three points of India.

But the sobering thought for both sides that took part in the thrilling seven-match series is that they are still a long, long way behind table-toppers Australia.

The team that holds the ICC Champions Trophy and ICC Cricket World Cup trophies is five points clear of second-placed South Africa, 21 ahead of India and 24 in front of England.

Tendulkar's improving ranking and rating is one of the most dramatic upward movements in the upper echelons of the latest LG ICC ODI Player Rankings.

In the batting list, Bell has moved into the top 20 and is just one point short of his best rating, achieved earlier in the ODI series. He is one of two England players in the top 20, along with second-placed Kevin Pietersen, holding steady just behind leader Ricky Ponting of Australia.

In addition to Tendulkar, India has three other batsmen in the top 20 - Dravid, who has dropped two places during the England series to 15th position, Yuvraj Singh, a non-mover at 18th in the list and 19th-placed Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The India wicketkeeper-batsman may have scored 50 in the last match of the series, at Lord's on Saturday, but that was his only half-century in the seven matches and his modest return means he has dropped 14 spots over the course of the series.

In the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff remains his side's highest-ranked player and has climbed five places to 10th position after taking 10 wickets in the four matches he played.

Only one player took more wickets in the series than Flintoff and that was his Lancashire and England team-mate James Anderson, and his great form has seen him climb 19 places to break into the top 20.

Anderson now lies 14th in the bowling list and is closing in on his best-ever haul of rating points, achieved four years ago in 2003, also the year when he took an ODI hat-trick against Pakistan.

But if there is good news for Anderson, there is bad news for Ajit Agarkar. He started the series in 13th position but has dropped 12 places and his fall means India is now without a bowler in the top 20.

Flintoff's excellence with the ball has also seen him rise in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders. He has climbed up from fifth to second position, overtaking Chris Gayle of the West Indies, Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka and Kallis in the process; but Flintoff is still some distance behind the leader of that list, South Africa's Shaun Pollock.

Pollock also tops the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, ahead of Australia's Nathan Bracken and Shane Bond of New Zealand. Below Ponting and Pietersen in the batting table comes the Australia duo of Michael Hussey and Matthew Hayden, together with South Africa captain Graeme Smith.