Dubail: The battle for the top spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Rankings for Test batsmen is so intense now that anything less than a century in a Test match can topple a player from the perch.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara thus regained the top slot from India's Sachin Tendulkar, who had clinched the top slot recently through some splendid knocks in the India-Australia series. A superb effort of 150 from Sangakkara in the second Test against West Indies in Colombo was enough for him to displace Tendulkar at the top.
Tendulkar, after his marathon innings of 214 in the Bangalore Test against Australia, managed only 40 and 61 in the Test matches against New Zealand. Breathing down the necks of Sangakkara and Tendulkar is India's in-form opener Virender Sehwag and South Africa's Jacques Kallis. Hashim Amla is also in the race after his splendid knocks against Pakistan in the UAE recently. AB De Villiers, who cracked a record-breaking unbeaten 287 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, moved up eight places to fifth slot, pushing Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene out of the top five.
Future tours
Meanwhile, the ICC chief executive committee will meet in Dubai today to discuss means to make Test cricket and one-day matches more exciting. The meeting will finalise plans for new Test and one-day International tournaments. They will consider the new Future Tours Programme (FTP) Agreement for the period from 2012 to 2020.
Clive Lloyd, the chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, will be attending the executive meeting to provide inputs on the decisions taken by his committee.
Speaking ahead of the executive meeting, Haroon Lorgat, ICC chief executive, said: "The restructuring of international cricket has been a significant and strategic piece of work which now requires a new FTP agreement."
Plans are on for a Test league between the top four teams, to be held once every four years to decide a Test champion.
Top five batsmen in ICC Player Rankings:
- 1. Kumar Sangakkara 882 points
- 2. Sachin Tendulkar 859 points
- 3. Virender Sehwag 850 points
- 4. Jacques Kallis 806 points
- 5. AB de Villiers 793 points
