Dhoni overtakes Ponting for 2nd spot in ICC ODI rankings

Dubai, Feb 21 (UNI) Team India stumper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's brilliant performance in the recently concluded one-day series against Sri Lanka has seen him overtake Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for the second spot in the latest LG ICC Rankings for ODI batsmen issued today.

This is Dhoni's highest ranking since May 2006. The 25-year-old completed a successful four-match series against the Lankans, having scored 115 runs in two innings, including a match-winning 67 not out in the third ODI at Margao. He is now averaging 46.61 in ODIs with a remarkable career strike-rate of 98.49.

Dhoni overtakes Ponting, who did not play in Australia's 3-0 series defeat to New Zealand and is now in third position, just one ratings point ahead of England's Kevin Pietersen.

Another Indian to make rapid strides in the table is Yuvraj Singh whi is up five places to 15th position, now just two places behind skipper Rahul Dravid.

Stand-in captain for Australia Michael Hussey is still occupying the top spot and is the only batsman currently holding more than 800 ratings points (817).

Following New Zealand's 3-0 clean sweep of Australia, Stephen Fleming's side has moved ahead of Pakistan into third place in the Championship table.

Despite its recent run of defeats, Australia still boasts of four batsmen in the top ten.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Shaun Pollock is now a phenomenal 157 ratings points clear at the top of the Rankings for ODI bowlers.

The 33-year-old KwaZulu Natal all-rounder is now way out in front of Glenn McGrath of Australia in second, Pollock's Proteas team-mate Makhaya Ntini in third and Kiwi Daniel Vettori in fourth.

New Zealand's Shane Bond is also hitting his straps at the right time, following a good series against Australia. He is up three places to seventh spot in the latest Rankings for ODI bowlers.

Pollock is still number one in the Rankings for ODI all-rounders.

The only move in the top five is Jacques Kallis, who has gone up one place into fourth, past Sri Lanka veteran Sanath Jayasuriya.

Top-10 Teams: 1.South Africa (128), 2.Australia (125), 3.New Zealand (113), 4.Pakistan (111), 5.India (109), 6.Sri Lanka (108), 7.England (106), 8.West Indies (101), 9.Bangladesh (42), 10.Zimbabwe (22) Top-10 Batsmen: 1.Mike Hussey (Aus,817), 2.Mahendra Dhoni (Ind,779), 3.Ricky Ponting (Aus,768), 4.Kevin Pietersen (Eng,767), 5.Chris Gayle (WI,741), 6.Andrew Symonds (Aus,737), 7.Kumar Sangakkara (SL,735), 8.Mohd Yousuf (Pak,731), 9.Graeme Smith (SA,718), 10.Adam Gilchrist (Aus,712) Top-10 Bowlers: 1.Shaun Pollock (SA,920), 2.Glenn McGrath (Aus,763), 3.Makhaya Ntini (SA,746), 4.Daniel Vettori (NZ,740), 5.Chaminda Vaas (SL,726), 6.Brett Lee (Aus,725), 7.Shane Bond (NZ,722), 8.Nathan Bracken (Aus,721), 9.Muttiah Muralitharan (SL,716), 10.Ian Bradshaw (WI,701) Top-5 All-rounders: 1.Shaun Pollock (SA,483), 2.Chris Gayle (WI,422), 3.Andrew Flintoff (Eng,397), 4.Jacques Kallis (SA,365), 5.Sanath Jayasuriya (SL,360) UNI