Tendulkar jumps to third

Tendulkar, who returned undefeated on 200 in his 442nd appearance, has lifted three places and now trails second-placed Mike Hussey of Australia by 43 points with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni strengthening his position at the top of the rankings after hitting a 35-ball 68 not out.

It is Tendulkar\'s highest ranking in two years after he had reached second position following an unbeaten 117 against Australia in Sydney.

While Tendulkar has vaulted into third position, his fellow opener Virender Sehwag has dropped one place to 10th position.

AB de Villiers remains South Africa\'s highest-ranked batsman in fourth position after stroking an unbeaten 114 in Gwalior. Jacques Kallis has retained his 11th position but Herschelle Gibbs has slipped one place to 16th spot.

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Dale Steyn has slipped two places to 13th spot after Tendulkar\'s Gwalior onslaught. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori leads the bowling table with Zimbabwe\'s Ray Price in second position.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh hosts England in the three-ODI series from Sunday with Paul Collingwood well-placed to break into the top 10. Collingwood currently sits in 14th position but trails ninth-placed Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka by 23 points. A good performance with the bat in the series can potentially put him in the top 10.

For Bangladesh, Shakib Al Hasan is the highest-ranked batsman in 28th spot while Tamim Iqbal is in 34th position.

Shakib is also the highest-ranked bowler from either side in third position while Stuart Broad is the highest-ranked England bowler in seventh spot.

In the ICC ODI Championship, India has all but cemented second position after taking an unassailable 2-0 lead. It is now on 123 ratings points while South Africa has slipped to 115 ratings points.

The only way India can finish third at the annual cut-off date of

April 1 is if it loses Saturday\'s match and New Zealand makes a clean sweep of the five-ODI series against Australia starting in

Napier on March 3. In that scenario, New Zealand will jump to 123 ratings points while India will finish on 122 ratings points.

On the other side of the coin, if India wins on Saturday then irrespective of how New Zealand and Australia series pans out, India will finish second on 124 ratings points.

Australia has already sealed the number-one position with 134 ratings points and can only drop to as low as 128 ratings points if it loses all the five ODI against New Zealand.
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