India needs clean sweep against WI to grab 2nd spot in ODIs

Dubai:

India will topple Australia to take the second spot in the ICC one-day rankings and achieve their best ratings if they manage to whitewash the West Indies in the four-match series starting on Friday.

India and Australia are currently locked at 122 ratings points but the world champions are a step ahead by a fraction of a point.

But if Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men sweep the series in West Indies, they will gain one rating point and will topple Australia from the second position for the first time since the rankings were introduced in October 2002.

West Indies, on the other hand, are languishing at the eighth position, 32 points behind India.

However, if India fails to register a clean sweep, it will lose one point to drop behind Australia even if Dhoni and his side secure a 3-1 series victory.

A 2-2 draw will put India on 119 ratings points and a 4-0 defeat will drop it further to 116 points, just four points ahead of fourth-placed New Zealand.

In contrast, the West Indies, currently on 90 points, will gain nine points if they manage to register a 4-0 series win to narrow the gap with seventh-placed Sri Lanka.

A 3-1 series win will lift it to 96 points, a 2-2 draw series will take it to 93 points and a 3-1 loss will leave it on 91 points.

Meanwhile, in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Dhoni leads the field but his West Indian counterpart Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and deputy Yuvraj Singh are breathing down the Indian skipper's neck as only 46 points separate him from fourth-placed Yuvraj.

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Jerome Taylor is the highest-ranked bowler from either side in 14th place while Zaheer Khan, who has been rested for the series, is just one point behind in 16th spot. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is just outside the top 20 in the 23rd place.

Yuvraj, meanwhile, has an excellent opportunity to leapfrog Andrew Flintoff in the second place of the ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders as the Indian vice-captain trails the Englishman by just six points.