Dravid slips in icc rankings

Rahul Dravid8217;s pathetic display in the Boxing Day Test saw him drop two rungs to 14th in the latest LG ICC Test Rankings for batsmen. Sachin Tendulkar, India8217;s topscorer in the first innings, managed to move up a place to 17th, while Sourav Ganguly, who showed grit in both the innings, too climbed a place to be 18th.

Despite the team8217;s defeat in Melbourne, India skipper Anil Kumble finds himself one place up at the fourth slot in the bowlers8217; rankings, which has Zaheer Khan static at 13th. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Kumara Sangakkara returned to the top of the batsmen8217;s rankings for the second time in three weeks after Australian captain Ricky Ponting and South African Jacques Kallis suffered rare batting failures in the Melbourne and Port Elizabeth Tests respectively.

Ponting had entered the Boxing Day Test leading second-placed Kallis by one point and third-placed Sangakkara by three. But his contribution of four and three in his team8217;s 337-run victory over India meant he conceded 19 points and has fallen behind the two on 917 points.

Kallis also squandered an opportunity to surge to the top when he was dismissed for a duck in the first innings of his team8217;s 128-run defeat to the West Indies. But he did just enough to hang on to second place on 923 points, an ICC release said here today.

Sangakkara8217;s return to the top means Sri Lanka again boasts players at the top of both the batsman and bowler categories as world record-breaking spinner Muttiah Muralitharan tops the bowling list.