India can reach 4th spot in ODIs

FRIENDS
Currently languishing at the sixth place, thanks to their World Cup flop show, the Indian team can move up to fourth in the ICC cricket rankings with a clean sweep in the forthcoming One-Day series against Ireland, South Africa and Pakistan over the next fortnight.

Rahul Dravid's side, which reached Belfast on Wednesday on a 80-day tour of UK, will leap-frog Sri Lanka and Pakistan if they win each of their five matches during the tour of Ireland and Scotland.

A clean slate would put India on 111 rating points, just two behind New Zealand in third position and one ahead of Pakistan, who would drop to 110 rating points.


Any reversal, however, might see India drop below England to seventh position, which would be the lowest it has been in the ODI Championship since April 2005.

With just 14 rating points separating New Zealand in third position and the West Indies in eighth, there are opportunities coming up for several other teams to make their impression on the LG ICC ODI Championship.

The West Indies will overtake England if they win 2-0 or 3-0. England, meanwhile, will have their sight set on sixth spot with a good showing there.

England can rise further still as it is set to play seven ODIs against India in August and September, according to an ICC statement in Dubai on Thursday.
Australia still tops the log, six rating points clear of South Africa in second spot but Jacques Kallis's men can reduce that gap to four by beating Ireland once and India three times in Belfast.
If the Irish can pull off victories at home to India and South Africa, it will gain 14 rating points, putting real pressure on Bangladesh in ninth spot.

Individually, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in his first series as vice-captain, will want to keep up his recent run of fine form, and a good showing in the trip to Belfast and Glasgow would put him ahead of Mike Hussey and at third spot in the rankings for ODI batsmen.

There is also a chance for Kallis to get back into the top-10 while there will also be opportunities for the likes of Dravid, South Africans Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers and West Indians Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle to make further advances in the top 20.

De Villiers is now ranked at the 18th position, having been 77th just one year ago so he will want to make sure that trend continues while his absent captain Graeme Smith will not have the chance to improve on his position of seventh as he is still recovering from a knee surgery.