Symonds within touching distance of top spot in LG ICC Player Rankings

Australia's Andrew Symonds is within touching distance of top spot in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen.

The powerful right-hander, who bludgeoned a brutal 107 from just 88 balls against India in Nagpur on Sunday, has rocketed up six spots to second place and is now just eight rating points behind his captain and team-mate Ricky Ponting.

That rise is a reflection of his outstanding form during the ongoing series as he is the leading run-scorer from either side with 365 runs at an average of 91.25 and a strike-rate of 110.94 runs per hundred balls.

Symonds, who has reached a career-high tally of rating points, forms an impressive Australian 1-2-3 at the top of the batting table, behind Ponting but ahead of Matthew Hayden, the winner of the ODI Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards in September and the second highest run-getter in the current series.

And with three other Australia players inside the top 11 places - Michael Hussey (5th), Michael Clarke (8th) and Adam Gilchrist (11th) - it is no wonder the side holds the ICC Cricket World Cup, the ICC Champions Trophy and a clear lead in the LG ICC ODI Championship table.

The news is just as good for Ponting's men in the bowling list with left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg breaking into the top 10 on the back of being joint leading wicket-taker (alongside team-mate Mitchell Johnson) in the India series with 11 victims.

Hogg is one of three Australia bowlers in that top 10 with Nathan Bracken (3rd) and Brett Lee (9th) also featuring. And one player who may be joining that trio sooner rather than later is Johnson, up 35 places over the course of the series and now at 35th in the listing.

India may be 4-1 down but at least there is consolation for the home side in the form of Sachin Tendulkar, who has moved back into the batting top 10.

The little master is up three places to sit at joint 9th, alongside Chris Gayle of the West Indies while, further down the list, Yuvraj Singh (15th) and ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (16th) are both heading in the right direction.

On the debit side of the ledger, however, former captain Rahul Dravid has slipped seven places and is now lies in 22nd place, while India's highest-placed bowler in the relevant table is Harbhajan Singh, down in 29th position.

England batsman Kevin Pietersen's quiet series in Sri Lanka - just one half-century in five innings - has seen him miss the chance to take over at the top of the LG ICC ODI Player Rankings.

Pietersen has dropped to fourth place and as England is not due to play any more ODIs this calendar year he will have to bide his time behind Ponting, Symonds and Hayden.

It was not the easiest series for batsmen - there were just eight fifties from either side and no individual hundreds - but a dearth of high-scores for Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood also cost them ranking places.

Bell has dropped out of the top 20, sliding nine spots to 23rd while captain Collingwood has fallen one place to 26th position.

It is a similar story for several of Sri Lanka's batsmen with Sanath Jayasuriya (19th), captain Mahela Jayawardena (21st) and Upul Tharanga (30th) all dropping down the list.

But there is better news for both Kumar Sangakkara, up three places in 20th, and Chamara Silva, rising 15 slots to 31st in the listing.

With the ball, England's highest-placed player is still Andrew Flintoff (12th) while James Anderson (15th) is its other player inside the top 20.

Outside that elite group, Stuart Broad (46th) and Ryan Sidebottom (joint 88th) are both moving up after excellent returns in the latest series.

Sri Lanka is well-served with bowlers near the top end of the LG ICC ODI Player Rankings with seam and swing merchant Chaminda Vaas in fourth place, one slot ahead of talismanic spinner Muttiah Muralidaran, currently sidelined with a bicep injury.

Farveez Maharoof has broken into the top 20 and now lies 10th after an outstanding series of displays against England before he was sidelined through injury, while Lasith Malinga (14th) and Dilhara Fernando (16th) are also inside that top 20.

Malinga has dropped five spots but Fernando has rocketed into the elite group on the back of a career-best 6-27 on Saturday and now has a career-high haul of rating points.

Top of the bowling list is South Africa's Shaun Pollock from Shane Bond of New Zealand. Pollock is also the leading player in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders.

Australia and India go head-to-head for the final time in this series in Mumbai on Wednesday (17 October) followed by a Twenty20 international in the same city.

Meanwhile South Africa and Pakistan are set to start a five-match ODI series on Thursday (18 October), following on from their two-Test series which the Proteas won 1-0.

Australia currently holds a seven point lead in the LG ICC ODI Championship table.