India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a chance to regain the top slot in the batting list while his team can climb up to the second place in the ICC’s ODI championship table if they do well in the Asia Cup starting June 15 in Sri Lanka.

Dhoni slipped to third behind Australia’s Michael Hussey and South Africa’s AB de Villiers in the rankings for batsmen after deciding to skip the tour to Zimbabwe where Sri Lanka won the triangular series after defeating Zimbabwe by nine wickets in the final.

As a player loses half a per cent of his ratings points for every ODI he misses, Dhoni conceded 16 ratings points and slipped to third position, the ICC said in a statement.

However, he still has the number-one ranked Hussey and second-placed de Villiers firmly within his sights as he trails the Australian by eight ratings points and the South African by just two ratings points.

With India scheduled to play a minimum of three ODIs in Sri Lanka, a couple of good performances with the bat will help Dhoni regain his number-one position.

Also aiming to maintain his upward movement will be Virat Kohli who achieved career-best ranking to date after good performances in Zimbabwe last week.

Kohli scored 168 runs to jump to 13th position after a leap of seven places.

Also moving up the order after the Zimbabwe series was Rohit Sharma. Sharma’s series aggregate of 260 runs has given him a lift of 44 places and puts him in 47th position which he shares with Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal.

However, Suresh Raina, who captained India in Zimbabwe, had a disappointing series and he slipped to 20th after scoring 83 runs in four matches.

In the rankings for ODI bowlers, Sri Lanka boasts two bowlers inside the top 20 while Pakistan has two and Bangladesh and India have one each.

Harbhajan Singh represents India in the top 20 in 11th spot whereas Pakistan’s captain Shahid Afridi is seventh and his countryman Saeed Ajmal is in 18th spot.

In the ODI Championship table, India will start in third place after dropping behind South Africa following their three losses in Zimbabwe.

However, it can regain the number-two spot if they win both their matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan.

If they manage to achieve this, they will join South Africa on 119 ratings points but will be placed higher after the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

Their defeat against Sri Lanka in the tri-series followed by Australia’s win over England in the fourth One-dayer resulted to India dropping to third place in the ICC ODI rankings list.

India were displaced from the top spot within 24 hours of gaining it after their morale-shattering 139-run defeat against the hosts Sri Lanka.

After India’s defeat, Australia defeated England by seven wickets to take a 4-0 lead in the seven-match series, which pushed India to third.

Both India and Australia have 125 points each but the latter are ahead when points were calculated upto decimals, according to the ICC website.

South Africa occupy the top slot. India will take on Sri Lanka in the final of the tri-nation series on Monday in Colombo.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his deputy Yuvraj Singh retained the top two slots in batsmen’s list, while Team India managed to cling on to second position in the ICC ODI Rankings issued on Monday.

Dhoni held on to his numero uno status with 828 rating points while left-handed Yuvraj, who had managed his career best ranking last month, had 784 points in his kitty.

The Indian duo are followed by Australia’s Mike Hussey (767), West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul (759) and his skipper Chris Gayle (756) in the list.

Virender Sehwag (seventh), Sachin Tendulkar (14th) and Gautam Gambhir (17th) stuck to their respective positions.

Meanwhile, South Africa remained on top of ODI Championships table, followed by India and Australia at second and third.

Among the bowlers, injured left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan continued to be the only Indian in top 20 at 16th.

Sri Lankan Nuwan Kulasekara tops the bowlers’ list.

It was India one-two in the ICC ODI Rankings as dashing left-hander Yuvraj Singh zoomed to a career best second place, topped by his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Despite winning the four-match series against the West Indies, there was, however, no such good news for India as Dhoni’s men missed a chance to reclaim the second spot in the ICC ODI Championship and remained third.

India needed to win all their matches against the West Indies but they went down in the second tie at Sabina Park even though it could not deny them a 2-1 series win in the Caribbeans.

Yuvraj made scores of 131, 35 and 2 in the three matches against the West Indies while the fourth ODI in St Lucia was washed out on Sunday. His series contribution helped him jump two places and he now sits behind Dhoni who has consolidated his number one position.

Dhoni, whose place was under threat from Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Yuvraj, produced a consistent performance to strengthen his position at the top.

The wicketkeeper-batsman made scores of 41, 95 and 46 not out to walk away with the player of the series award.

Dhoni now leads Yuvraj by a comfortable 44-point margin. The team-mates are likely to resume their battle for the top spot in September when India plays Sri Lanka and New Zealand in a proposed tri-series in Sri Lanka.

Yuvraj’s leap by two places means Chanderpaul and Gayle have dropped one place each to the third and fourth places respectively.

There was bad news for India opener Gautam Gambhir, who has slipped four places to share 20th spot with New Zealand’s Ross Taylor. Gambhir scored 57 runs in the series with his highest score being 44 in the third ODI at St Lucia.

Yuvraj, meanwhile, has fallen out of the top five of the ICC Player Rankings for all-rounders.

The left-arm spinner remained wicketless while conceding 53 runs off six overs in the series and his failure to pick up a few wickets means he has slipped five places to eighth position.

Yuvraj’s fall has benefitted the Pakistan duo of Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi, who have risen to joint-third spot, and the fifth placed Jacob Oram.

In the bowlers’ chart, Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh lost three places to 26th while Praveen Kumar dropped six places to 33rd.

Ishant Sharma, however, managed to move up two rungs to 39th.

The Indian cricket team has the chance to rise up a notch and replace Australia as the second-placed team in the ICC one-day rankings if it manages to whitewash New Zealand 5-0 in the series starting tomorrow.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team is currently third, four ratings points behind second-placed Australia and five behind top team South Africa.

A clean sweep will put India ahead of Ricky Ponting’s men by a fraction of a point but it would remain just behind the Proteas in what would be an extraordinarily tightly packed leader-board with one ratings point separating the top three ODI teams in world cricket.

For its part, New Zealand can move up to third ahead of India if it wins the series 4-1 or better but it will drop as low as sixth if it suffers a 5-0 defeat.

The series is also an opportunity for some of the top players to make further gains in the rankings.

Dhoni is currently enjoying the top spot in the rankings for batsmen but team-mate Yuvraj Singh is hot on his heels in third position.

India’s 68-run defeat to Sri Lanka on Sunday cost them their second place in the latest ICC ODI rankings as they were overtaken by Australia after the World champions pulled off a thrilling win over New Zealand.

India lost two rating points to reduce to 120 while Australia (122) gained one point to their tally to overtake India, who are now back to third place after their brief stay at second spot behind top-ranker South Africa.

If Australia, who are on decline in the last few months, win their next two matches they will be tied at top spot with South Africa, although they will be still second if the rankings are calculated beyond decimal points.

India, who won the series 4-1 against Sri Lanka, will have the chance to regain their best-ever rankings of second spot during their tour of New Zealand, beginning later this month.

India moved to second place in ICC ODI rankings after Australia were pushed to the third spot following their defeat at the hands of New Zealand in Melbourne.

New Zealand beat Australia by 6 wickets in the second ODI of the series to help India pip Australia. Beating Sri Lanka 4-0 in the ongoing ODI series also helped India to rise in the rankings.

Australia not only slid down the rankings but also slid to their fifth consecutive defeat at home.

Thursday’s victory against Sri Lanka was the ninth win on the trot for the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team, including the 5-0 verdict against England last year.

This is India’s best ranking ever, while South Africa, who had toppled Australia to grab the number one position, have 125 points.

Australia (121) have been pushed to the third place while New Zealand follow on fourth rung with 117 points. Pakistan is further down the ladder at fifth while England and Sri Lanka are sixth and seventh respectively.

Australia, who have been on the decline in the last few months, have just about managed to retain their place as the number one team in the longer version of the game despite losing the Test series at home to South Africa.

In ICC Test Rankings, Australia have 126 points while second placed South Africa is 121 and would get a chance to topple Australia when they take on Ricky Ponting’s men in a home series beginning later this month. India are third placed with 118 points.

The number one ODI team on April 1 will be richer by USD 175,000 with the runners-up getting USD 75,000.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men can grab the number two spot in the ICC ODI Championship table provided they complete a 5-0 whitewash in Sri Lanka and Australia’s misery continues against New Zealand.

Having already pocketed the series by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, India is already within two ratings points of Australia and four behind leaders South Africa (125).

A 5-0 whitewash of Mahela Jayawardene’s team may help the Indians topple Australia from the number two spot, provided Ricky Ponting’s men, who lost their firsrt ODI against New Zealand, continue their poor shows.

With Dhoni’s men touring New Zealand in March where they will play five One-dayers, a lot can change before the April 1 cut off date.

The top side in the ODI Championship will be richer by $175,000 with the runners-up getting $75,000, the ICC said in a press release.

Current rankings: 1. South Africa (125 points); 2. Australia (123); 3. India (121); 4. New Zealand (115); 5. Pakistan (111); 6. England (108); 7. Sri Lanka (104); 8 West Indies (91); 9. Bangladesh (46); 10. Zimbabwe (23); 11. Ireland (19); 12. Kenya (0).

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has reclaimed the top spot in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) rankings for ODI batsmen. 

Dhoni’s 61 not out in the first One-dayer against Sri Lanka has enabled him to topple West Indies captain Chris Gayle from the top position.

Further down the table, South Africa’s AB de Villiers has shot up 10 places to rejoin the top-10 for the first time since August 2008. De Villiers made a strong impression with the bat during South Africa’s 4-1 series win over Australia, averaging 63.66 in the series.

Australia’s Michael Hussey has climbed two places to return to the top five in the batsmen’s rankings.

India’s Gautam Gambhir has jumped four places to claim the number 20 spot.

South Africa’s Jean-Paul Duminy and Hashim Amla have also made inroads. Duminy, who has had an exceptional series with the bat against Australia, in both Tests and ODIs, has climbed eight places to take 29th position while Amla has jumped 34 spots to 37th place.

The bowlers’ ranking has no change in the top five with the table still headed by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori followed by Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara.

India’s Zaheer Khan has climbed two places to go joint-ninth, level with England’s Andrew Flintoff.

Sachin Tendulkar moved up a rung to 11th while dashing opener Virender Sehwag also broke into the top-20 in the latest ICC ODI Rankings in which India held on to the third position in the team chart.

Sehwag rose a rung to 20th in the list released today but Yuvraj Singh dropped a spot to seventh.

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has gained one place to be sixth in the list but his teammate Michael Hussey dropped one place to fourth with Shivnarine Chanderpaul benefiting from his misfortune.

India continued being at the third spot behind table-toppers Australia and South Africa.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has a chance to move up two places to fifth in the table if it beats Pakistan in all three ODIs coming up in Karachi and Lahore.

Mahela Jayewardene’s team currently lies in seventh position following a tour of mixed results in Bangladesh.

In a tri-series which also involved Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka lost one match to the home side but later exacted revenge in what was a thrilling final.

Now Sri Lanka is in Karachi for the first ODI on January 20 knowing that a 3-0 result in the series will ensure it leap-frogs both Shoaib Malik’s men and sixth-placed England.

However, the reverse result would relegate Sri Lanka from its current tally of 105 ratings points to 102 which would still be significantly ahead of eighth-placed West Indies, which has 91 points to its name at present.

Victory for Pakistan in the series will ensure it keeps the pressure on India and a 3-0 win will put the team within one point of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side.