Riding on his match-saving hundred against Sri Lanka in the opening Test, senior Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar rose a rung to joint 15th but opener Gautam Gambhir slipped one place to third in the latest ICC Rankings issued.

Tendulkar shares the 15th spot with dashing England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

Among other Indians, Rahul Dravid has jumped five places to sit just outside the top 20 in 21st position, while India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has leaped three places to 30th spot.

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, who scored a double hundred in the drawn match, achieved the number one ranking for the first time in his career.

Jayawardene, who during his mammoth knock became only the ninth batsman to complete 9,000 Test runs, is just 17 points short of becoming only the 25th batsman overall to reach the 900-point mark which, in ranking terms, is the benchmark for top batsmen.