ICC rankings: Yuvi down, Sachin up

Yuvraj Singh's form slump has seen him drop four rungs to 19th, while master batsman Sachin Tendulkar continued to be upwardly mobile, rising a couple of spots to seventh in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued on Saturday.

Indian ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has also lost ground dropping two places to 13th in the batting charts.

Among the others Indians, Gautam Gambhir has improved his position by two places and is currently placed 35th in the list, which continues to be headed by Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.

In the bowling charts, Harbhajan Singh is the only Indian in top 20 after improving five positions to the 18th spot.

Teenage pace sensation Ishant Sharma continues to make significant improvement and the bowler, who has claimed six wickets in four ODIs of the ongoing tri-series, has shot up 96 places to 154th position.

Meanwhile, retiring Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist has climbed 10 places to second position after a superb 118 in Perth.

In the ICC ODI Championship table, Australia is still at the top of the table leading South Africa by three ratings points.

New Zealand is third, three ratings points ahead of fourth-placed India, while Sri Lanka is another two ratings points adrift in sixth place. England is seventh with 106 ratings points.

With just seven ratings points currently separating New Zealand in third position and England in seventh, the competition will be fierce over the coming weeks to see who finishes where before the cut-off date for determining seedings for the ICC Champions Trophy 2008, March 12.