Series win will put Australia in third position
Dubai : Australia has the chance to move ahead of Sri Lanka in third place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship when it goes head to head with top-ranked India in the two-Test series which starts in Mohali from Friday.
Australia enters the series in fourth position on 113 ratings, just one ahead of England, but will move ahead of Sri Lanka if it wins the series. A 1-0 win will put it on 117 ratings points while a 2-0 win will give it 118 ratings points.
On the other side of the coin, Australia will drop behind England if India wins the series. Ricky Ponting?s side will fall to 110 ratings points if it loses both the Tests while in the case of a 1-0 defeat Australia will slip to 111 ratings points.
As far as India is concerned, it will retain its number-one position irrespective of how the series pans out. While a 2-0 win will take it to 130 ratings points, defeats in both the Tests will see it slip to 122 ratings points.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsman, there is a chance for India?s explosive opener Virender Sehwag to regain the top spot which he had lost to Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara last month.
Sehwag trails Sangakkara by just 15 ratings points and a good first Test with the bat will potentially put him ahead of the left-handed middle-order batsman from Matale.
Besides Sehwag, third-ranked Michael Clarke of Australia and India?s Sachin Tendulkar also have good opportunities to move up the ladder. Clarke leads Tendulkar by just five ratings points but trails Sehwag by 45 ratings points.
Simon Katich is the only other batsman from either side inside the top 10 in ninth position while the other batsmen inside the top 20 include VVS Laxman (12th), Gautam Gambhir (13th) and Ricky Ponting (17th).
Batsmen sitting outside the top 20 and eyeing an upward movement include Michael Hussey (22nd), Rahul Dravid (23rd), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (32nd), Shane Watson (39th) and Marcus North (47th).
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Australia boasts Mitchell Johnston and Doug Bollinger inside the top 20 in sixth and 14th positions, respectively, while India has Zaheer Khan (seventh) and Harbhajan Singh (10th) inside the top 10.
Bowlers aiming to improve their rankings include Ishant Sharma (22nd), Ben Hilfenhaus (23rd), Nathan Hauritz (28th), S.Sreesanth (29th) and Shane Watson (34th).
The bowlers? list is headed by Dale Steyn of South Africa with England?s Graeme Swann in second place.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, the highest-ranked player from either side is Sehwag in sixth position while Watson is eighth.
South Africa?s Jacques Kallis leads the field with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori in second spot.
Series schedule
1-5 Oct ? First Test, Mohali
9-13 Oct ? Second Test, Bengaluru
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship (as of 29 September)
Rank Team Rating
1 India 127
2 South Africa 119
3 Sri Lanka 115
4 Australia 113
5 England 112
6 Pakistan 83
7 West Indies 79
8 New Zealand 78
9 Bangladesh 7