LONDON, JULY 29: Sachin Tendulkar, the newly-appointed Indian cricket captain, has been rated the top Test batsman in the world, on form and career achievement, by the Wisden cricket monthly.Tendulkar, described the ``prince of batsmen'' by the magazine, replaces Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva at the top in the latest rankings based on form over two years from May 1997.The top five spots are taken by Indian and Sri Lankan batsmen. Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly are placed fourth and fifth respectively behind de Silva and new Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya in that order.The list, published in the magazine's August issue, gives Tendulkar the pride of place for his average of 67.83 during the two-year period when he amassed 1560 runs in 15 Tests and 25 innings.He is followed by Dravid in the career averages category. The magazine is brought out by publishers of the Wisden's Cricketing Almanac, regarded the game's bible.In Test standings, Tendulkar - who led for just a month during May lastyear - takes over from de Silva to end his record 12-month reign atop the quarterly rankings.De Silva had scored 1562 runs at 62.48 in 17 Tests (28 innings) during the period followed by Jayasuriya (15 Tests, 26 innings, 1431 runs, average 57.24).Dravid (15 Tests, 25 innings, 1356 runs, average 56.50) and left-hander Ganguly (15, 26, 1269, 55.17) come next.Deposed Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin is seventh (15, 25, 1093, 49.68) while Navjot Sidhu is placed 12th in the list of top 20 batsmen. Australian skipper Steve Waugh is placed sixth while his West Indian counterpart Brian Lara ranks a lowly 15th. Saeed Anwar, the lone Pakistani in the list, stands 17th.The list comprises five Indians, six South Africans, two Sri Lankans, two Australians, two Zimbabweans and one each from the West Indies, New Zealand and Pakistan. No England batsman finds a place in the list.Eligibility for inclusion in the Test (form) list is 10 Tests and a minimum of 300 runs.Fiery South African paceman AllanDonald and his gangling Australian counterpart Jason Gillespie head the form and career bowling honours respectively. Twenty wickets and a minimum of 200 overs are required for making the first list.Anil Kumble is the lone Indian bowler to make it to both the lists. The leg-spinner is ranked 19th in the form list, three places behind paceman Javagal Srinath, while he is 15th in career rankings.Srinath had captured 49 wickets in 11 Tests at an average of 26.27 while Kumble's 76 victims in 15 Tests came at 28.66 apiece, the magazine said.Donald had claimed 110 wickets in 21 Tests at 19.28 to finish ahead of veteran caribbean paceman Curtly Ambrose, who held an average of 19.78 having claimed 74 wickets (18 Tests).A notable ommission from the list was star Aussie leg-spinner Shane Warne, who was out with injury last year.The top seven spots in the list went to speedsters and Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was the best ranked slow bowler at eighth.
