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Gambhir achieves career-best ranking
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November 03, 2008 17:43 IST

Gautam Gambhir [Images] has achieved a career-best ranking but Rahul Dravid [Images] dropped out of the top 20 for the first time in 11 years in the Reliance [Get Quote] Mobile ICC [Images] Player Rankings for Test batsmen.

Gambhir, who scored 206 and 36 in the drawn third Test in Delhi [Images], rocketed 11 places to 18th. He started the series in 37th position but climbed 18 places after three Tests in which he has scored 463 runs.

Man of the match in the third Test VVS Laxman, who scored 200 not out and 59 not out, jumped five places to 11th with a place in the top 10 now firmly within his sights.

However, Dravid's slide in the batting ladder continues and following two knocks of 11, the former India captain dropped eight places to 26th. It is the first time he dropped out of top 20 since January 1997, when he slipped to 25th after the Johannesburg Test against South Africa [Images].

Dravid lost 10 places since the start of the series in which he has scored 117 runs.

Opener Virender Sehwag [Images] has also lost ground after a disappointing Test and dropped three places to 13th.

Sachin Tendulkar [Images] retained 19th position, but Sourav Ganguly [Images] slipped a place to 24th.

For Australia [Images], opener Matthew Hayden [Images] returned to the top 10 after knocks of 83 and 16 not out. The Queenslander climbed two places to ninth position.

However, Mike Hussey [Images], who took over the number-one tag from the West Indies' [Images] Shivnarine Chanderpaul [Images] after the first Test in Bangalore, slipped one more place to fourth while Michael Clarke [Images] also dropped one place to 14th.

It was a forgettable Test for the bowlers as the rankings of all the strike bowlers took a beating. The only bowler to benefit was Virender Sehwag, whose 5-104 in Australia's 577 lifted him nine places to 48th.

Australia's new ball pair of Stuart Clark and Brett Lee [Images] slipped a place each to third and fifth respectively while India's pace duo of Zaheer Khan [Images] and Ishant Sharma dropped two and five places respectively. Khan now shares 15th spot with Pakistan's Mohammad Asif [Images] while Sharma is in 36th position.

India captain Kumble is the only bowler to have retained his place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Ranking for Test bowlers as he ends his illustrious 132-Test career in 19th position. It is, however, his lowest ranking since January 1993 when he dropped out of the top 20 after the Newlands, Cape Town Test against South Africa.

Despite being the third leading wicket-taker (619) in the 131-year history of Test cricket behind Sri Lanka's [Images] Muthiah Muralitharan [Images] (756) and Australia's Shane Warne [Images] (708), Kumble never quite scaled the 900-point mark and never reached the top spot despite being a regular fixture in the top 10.

His highest ranking was second, which he achieved in November 1995 after the Chennai Test against New Zealand [Images].

The 37-year-old stalwart also gained four places in the batting and one place in the all-rounders' table to finish his career in 86th and 12th positions respectively.


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