India’s iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar has jumped to third position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after belting a record-breaking double-century in the second ODI against South Africa in Gwalior on Wednesday.

Tendulkar, who returned undefeated on 200 in his 442nd appearance, has lifted three places and now trails second-placed Mike Hussey of Australia by 43 points with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni strengthening his position at the top of the rankings after hitting a 35-ball 68 not out.

It is Tendulkar’s highest ranking in two years after he had reached second position following an unbeaten 117 against Australia in Sydney.

While Tendulkar has vaulted into third position, his fellow opener Virender Sehwag has dropped one place to 10th position.

Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir have also slipped in the latest rankings after missing the two ODIs due to injuries. A player loses one per cent of his ratings points for every match missed and as such, Yuvraj has fallen one place to 13th spot while Gambhir has dropped two places to 21st spot, a position he shares with team-mate Virat Kohli.

AB de Villiers remains South Africa’s highest-ranked batsman in fourth position after stroking an unbeaten 114 in Gwalior. Jacques Kallis has retained his 11th position but Herschelle Gibbs has slipped one place to 16th spot.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Dale Steyn has slipped two places to 13th spot after Tendulkar’s Gwalior onslaught. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori leads the bowling table with Zimbabwe’s Ray Price in second position.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh hosts England in the three-ODI series from Sunday with Paul Collingwood well-placed to break into the top 10. Collingwood currently sits in 14th position but trails ninth-placed Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka by 23 points. A good performance with the bat in the series can potentially put him in the top 10.

Like Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen will also be eyeing a return to the top 20. The Hampshire batsman is in 23rd spot and trails 17th-placed Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan by 20 points.

For Bangladesh, Shakib Al Hasan is the highest-ranked batsman in 28th spot while Tamim Iqbal is in 34th position.

Shakib is also the highest-ranked bowler from either side in third position while Stuart Broad is the highest-ranked England bowler in seventh spot.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship, India has all but cemented second position after taking an unassailable 2-0 lead. It is now on 123 ratings points while South Africa has slipped to 115 ratings points.

The only way India can finish third at the annual cut-off date of 1 April is if it loses Saturday’s match and New Zealand makes a clean sweep of the five-ODI series against Australia starting in Napier on 3 March. In that scenario, New Zealand will jump to 123 ratings points while India will finish on 122 ratings points.

On the other side of the coin, if India wins on Saturday then irrespective of how New Zealand and Australia series pans out, India will finish second on 124 ratings points.

Australia has already sealed the number-one position with 134 ratings points and can only drop to as low as 128 ratings points if it loses all the five ODI against New Zealand.

As regards Bangladesh and England series, if England wins all the three matches it will earn one ratings point but will conceded seven ratings points if it loses every match in the series.

If England wins the series 2-1, it will swap places with Sri Lanka which is currently in sixth position but will join seventh-placed Pakistan on 104 ratings points if it loses the series 2-1. However, England will be placed higher when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

Forthcoming ODIs

India v South Africa

27 Feb – Third ODI (d/n), Ahmedabad

Bangladesh v England

28 Feb – First ODI (d/n), Mirpur

2 Mar – Second ODI (d/n), Mirpur

5 Mar – Third ODI (d/n), Chittagong

New Zealand v Australia

3 Mar – First ODI (d/n), Napier

6 Mar – Second ODI, Auckland

9 Mar – Third ODI (d/n), Hamilton

11 Mar – Fourth ODI (d/n), Auckland

13 Mar – Fifth ODI (d/n), Wellington

West Indies v Zimbabwe

4 Mar – First ODI, Guyana

6 Mar – Second ODI, Guyana

10 Mar – Third ODI, St Vincent

12 Mar – Fourth ODI, St Vincent

14 Mar – Fifth ODI, St Vincent

To see how future results might affect the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table, check out the predictor function on the ICC website at http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/odi_predictor.php.

Reliance Mobile ODI Championship (as of 25 February, after the second ODI between India and South Africa and prior to the start of Bangladesh v England series)

Rank   Team              Rating

1          Australia          134

2          India                123

3          South Africa   115

4          New Zealand  113

5          England           109

6          Sri Lanka         108

7          Pakistan           104

8          West Indies     74

9          Bangladesh     53

10        Zimbabwe       26

11        Ireland             25

12        Kenya              2

(Developed by David Kendix)

ICC One-Day Rankings (as of 25 February)

Batsmen

Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         HS Rating

   1           ( - )          MS Dhoni              Ind          827         51.53     837 v Aus at Delhi 2009

   2           ( - )          Mike Hussey        Aus         809         53.94     865 v NZ at Perth 2007

   3           (+3)         S. Tendulkar         Ind          766         45.12     887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998

   4           (-1)          AB de Villiers        SA           759!       40.89     759 v Ind at Gwalior 2010

   5           (-1)          Ricky Ponting       Aus         739         43.30     831 v NZ at Hobart 2007

   6           (-1)          Graeme Smith      SA           722         40.67     785 v Ind at Kolkata 2005

   7=        ( - )          S.Chanderpaul     WI          714         41.66     778 v Eng at Guyana 2009

                ( - )          Chris Gayle           WI          714         39.38     808 v Zim at Harare 2003

   9           (+1)         K. Sangakkara     SL           701         36.55     755 v Pak at Colombo (RPS) 2006

  10         (-1)          Virender Sehwag  Ind          697         34.25     787 v NZ at Auckland 2003

  11         ( - )          Jacques Kallis       SA           696         45.29     818 v WI at Johannesburg 2004

  12         (+1)         T. Dilshan              SL           687!        33.70     687 v Ind at Mirpur 2010

  13         (-1)          Yuvraj Singh        Ind          685         37.09     786 v WI at Kingston 2009

  14         ( - )          P. Collingwood     Eng         678         36.11     688 v SA at Cape Town 2009

  15         (+1)         Michael Clarke    Aus         664         42.73     751 v SL at Melbourne 2008

  16         (-1)          Herschelle Gibbs  SA           657         36.13     752 v SL at Durban 2003

  17         ( - )          M. Yousuf             Pak         655         42.40     779 v Zim at Harare 2002

  18         (+2)         Suresh Raina        Ind          650!       37.98     650 v SA at Gwalior 2010

  19         (-1)          B. McCullum        NZ          643         28.91     666 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2009

  20         (+1)         Shane Watson      Aus         638         40.82     642 v WI at Adelaide 2010

Bowlers

Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         Econ      HS Rating

   1           ( - )          Daniel Vettori       NZ          761         31.36     4.14       790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008

   2           ( - )          Ray Price               Zim         701*!    33.57     3.73       701 v SA at Centurion 2009

   3           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        700         31.12     4.09       716 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   4           ( - )          N. Kulasekara      SL           682         27.50     4.57       727 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2009

   5           ( - )          Kyle Mills              NZ          675         26.45     4.68       723 v Aus at Melbourne 2009

   6           ( - )          Harbhajan Singh Ind          648         32.80     4.30       738 v WI at Bridgetown 2002

   7           ( - )          Stuart Broad         Eng         646         25.96     5.13       703 v SA at Trent Bridge 2008

   8           ( - )          Shane Bond          NZ          642         20.87     4.28       810 v SA at St George's 2007

   9           ( - )          Jacob Oram          NZ          641         30.67     4.36       770 v Aus at The Oval 2004

  10         ( - )          Shahid Afridi        Pak         639         34.61     4.61       667 v Ind at Mirpur 2008

  11         ( - )          James Anderson  Eng         638         29.93     4.94       700 v Ban at Dhaka 2003

  12         (+1)         Johan Botha         SA           620         39.80     4.50       665 v Aus at Centurion 2009

  13         (-2)          Dale Steyn            SA           615         31.88     5.37       662 v Zim at Benoni 2009

  14         ( - )          Nathan Hauritz    Aus         613*      31.86     4.51       622 v Ind at Guwahati 2009

  15         ( - )          Mitchell Johnson Aus         609         26.47     4.96       729 v Ban at Darwin 2008

  16         ( - )          Andrew Flintoff   Eng         608         24.38     4.39       758 v Ban at Dhaka 2003

  17         ( - )          Ajantha Mendis   SL           604*      17.86     4.29       642 v SA at Centurion 2009

  18         ( - )          Doug Bollinger     Aus         600*!    16.93     3.94       600 v WI at Melbourne 2010

  19         ( - )          M. Muralidaran   SL           599         22.98     3.91       913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002

  20         ( - )          Nathan Bracken  Aus         596         24.36     4.41       808 v SL at St George's 2007

All-rounders

Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Pts          HS Rating

   1           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        427        453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   2           ( - )          Shane Watson      Aus         370        384 v Pak at Sydney 2010

   3           ( - )          Yuvraj Singh        Ind          347        357 v Ban at Mirpur 2010

   4           ( - )          Jacob Oram          NZ          340        383 v WI at Queenstown 2008

   5           ( - )          Shahid Afridi        Pak         336        352 v Ken at Nairobi 2002