Sachin storms to #3 in ICC rankings

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar rose to the top three of the ICC batting charts for ODIs a day after he scored an unbeaten 200 against Soouth Africa at Gwalior.

Sachin climbed three rungs and is now behind Mike Hussey of Australia. Incidentally, this is Sachin's highest ODI ranking in two years, he was on number two when he scored an unbeaten 117 against Australia in Sydney a couple of years ago. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni continues to rule the batting charts thanks to his rapidfire 68 off 35 balls against South Africa. Because of Sachin's onslaught in Gwalior, Dale Steyn slipped two places in the bowlers' chart.

However Indian opener Virender Sehwag dropped one place to 10th position. Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir, who missed the first two One Dayers against South Africa owing to injuries have also dropped down the charts. Yuvraj is now at 13th place while Gambhir is at 21, a spot which he shares with Virat Kohli. India are officially the number two team in the world after Dhoni's boys beat South Africa 2-0 in the current series. For India to slip to number 3, they would have to lose the final match against South Africa, and New Zealand would have to win all five matches against Australia.