India rise, could finish 2nd in ICC rankings

Apart from this, Anil Kumble’s men have another reason to smile as all their top performers in the match have moved up in the individual rankings.

After shinning with both bat and ball, Irfan Pathan has broken into the top 20 of Test bowlers chart released today.

The Baroda pacer, who scored 28 and 46 with the bat besides claiming 5-117 in Perth, climbed six places to 19th to join Kumble, who is unchanged at sixth, and an injured Zaheer Khan (13th) in the top 20.

If the final Test in Adelaide starting January 24 ends in a draw, India will move two rating points ahead of third-placed Sri Lanka.

And if Kumble’s side manages to square the series, it will finish on 113 ratings points, four ahead of Mahela Jayawardena’s team. Even if Australia win the match in Adelaide, India will sit above Sri Lanka when ratings points are calculated beyond the decimal point.

Only 24 ratings points separate 16th-placed Asif from Pathan who is now just three short of 100 Test wickets. He also re-established himself as one of the most promising all-rounders in the game by leapfrogging Australia’s Brett Lee and West Indian duo of Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo to sixth spot in the Test all-rounders’ list.

Among other Indians, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have all made improvements in the batting charts. Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman rose one position each to 13th, 15th and 17th respectively.

Sehwag, meanwhile, jumped three places to share the 32nd place with Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal and England’s Marcus Trescothick while Dhoni lifted one place to share 41st spot.