Pujara breaks into Top-10

On a day when Cheteshwar Pujara broke into the top-10 batsmen list in the ICC Test rankings,Rahul Dravid,the former India skipper and No.3,said that he believed the 25-year-old would achieve success in One-day cricket also

On a day when Cheteshwar Pujara broke into the top-10 batsmen list in the ICC Test rankings,Rahul Dravid,the former India skipper and No.3,said that he believed the 25-year-old would achieve success in One-day cricket also.

Pujara8217;s 419 runs at an average of 83.80 in the four Test series versus Australia helped him climb five places to a best-ever seventh position in the Test rankings. Pujara8217;s average of 65 in 13 Tests,includes four hundreds and three half-centuries. Pujara hasn8217;t made his ODI debut yet,but in 61 domestic one-day matches Pujara averages 56.97,with eight hundreds and 17 fifties.

He8217;s got some good basics in place. You can see that he is constantly improving and he is someone who will find answers to questions. He is going to have his ups and downs and face a lot of challenges adapting to different forms of the game and conditions. With his attitude and the way he is going about playing his cricket,I think he will find answers to a lot of these questions and one of them will be one-day cricket, Dravid told ESPNcricinfo.

Dravid said that Pujara8217;s approach to the game was similar to his. He8217;s had a great start to his international career,in fact a much better start than I did. I think he has been brought up in the old school of batsmanship. He is developing more shots and he approaches Test cricket in the same way as I did, Dravid said.

Pujara is not the only Indian who has moved up the rankings. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin,who was named man-of-the-series for his 29-wicket series haul,is now at a best-ever sixth spot,having jumped two places. However,Sachin Tendulkar has lost five positions to be at 26th place while Viart Kohli has slipped to 24th position,losing four places.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni,the double centurion in the Chennai Test,has jumped two places to 22nd position along with West Indian Chris Gayle while Murali Vijay,the other Test centurion in Hyderabad,has jumped three places to 40th position in the batsmen8217;s list headed by South Africa8217;s Hashim Amla.

The latest rankings were released a day after England8217;s magnificent fight back in the Auckland Test which denied New Zealand a series win. The result left the series deadlocked at 0-0. The hero of England8217;s great escape was Prior,who hit an unbeaten 110,has jumped four places to a career-best 10th position with best-ever 745 ratings points.