Seventh-placed Sri Lanka needs to win series to improve its ranking

Dhoni has to perform with the bat to defend his number-one position while Yuvraj can return to the top three and Sehwag can regain a top 10 spot

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Fresh after claiming the number-one Test spot, India aims to narrow the gap with front-runner Australia in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship when it goes head to head with Sri Lanka in the five-ODI series which starts in Rajkot on Tuesday.

India currently sits in second place on 122 ratings points, eight behind Australia, but can reduce the gap to four ratings points if it manages to win all five matches of the series.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side can only drop a position if it loses the series by 1-4 or worse. If Sri Lanka wins the series 4-1 series, India will drop to 117 ratings points, two behind South Africa, while a 5-0 defeat will put it on par with Kumar Sangakkara's side on 115 ratings point but behind Sri Lanka when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

While India will be aiming to get closer to Australia, Sri Lanka will be attempting to improve its current seventh position. And to make it happen, Sri Lanka has to win the series by 3-2 or better.

A 3-2 series win will put Sri Lanka ahead of Pakistan while a 4-1 series win will place it before New Zealand and England on the ODI Championship table. A clean sweep will lift it to third position.

Meanwhile, in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is feeling the heat from Australia's Michael Hussey as only 16 points separates the two batsmen.

Dhoni will have to perform consistently well in the series with the bat to defend this number-one position which he has been occupying since January.

Apart from Dhoni, India boasts Yuvraj Singh (seventh), Sachin Tendulkar (eighth), Virender Sehwag (11th) and Gautam Gambhir (19th) inside the top 20. The foursome are well-placed to move up the order with Yuvraj in sight of a return to the top three and Sehwag within touching distance of a place inside the top 10.

Sri Lanka includes captain Kumar Sangakkara (17th) and Sanath Jayasuriya (18th) inside the top 20 while the batsmen inside the top 50 are Tillakaratne Dilshan (27th), Mahela Jayawardena (29th) and Thilina Kandamby (49th).

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Sri Lanka pacer Nuwan Kulasekara is the highest-ranked bowler from either side in fourth position. A good series with the ball will potentially see him reclaim the number-one spot from New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori whom he trails by 32 points.

The other bowlers inside the top 20 from either side are spinners with India's Harbhajan Singh in 11th position and Sri Lanka pair of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralidaran in 13th and 14th spots respectively.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, Yuvraj is the highest-ranked player from either side in third place while Jayasuriya is Sri Lanka's highest-ranked all-rounder in eighth spot.

The list is headed by Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan with Australia's Shane Watson in second place.

The series schedule is:

15 Dec - First ODI, Rajkot 18 Dec - Second ODI (d/n), Visakhapatnam 21 Dec - Third ODI (d/n), Cuttack 24 Dec - Fourth ODI (d/n), Kolkata 27 Dec - Fifth ODI, New Delhi

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Reliance Mobile ODI Championship (as of 13 December, before the start of India - Sri Lanka ODI series)

Rank Team Rating 1 Australia 130 2 India 122 3 South Africa 119 4 New Zealand 112 5 England 109 6 Pakistan 108 7 Sri Lanka 106 8 West Indies 76 9 Bangladesh 55 10 Zimbabwe 26 11 Ireland 25 12 Kenya 2

(Developed by David Kendix) Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Rankings (as of 13 December, before the start of India - Sri Lanka ODI series)

Batsmen

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

1 MS Dhoni Ind 817 50.04 837 v Aus at Delhi 2009

2 Mike Hussey Aus 801 54.07 865 v NZ at Perth 2007

3 AB de Villiers SA 749 39.64 754 v Eng at Cape Town 2009

4 Ricky Ponting Aus 738 43.19 831 v NZ at Hobart 2007

5 Chris Gayle WI 736 39.94 808 v Zim at Harare 2003

6 S.Chanderpaul WI 733 41.66 778 v Eng at Guyana 2009

7 Yuvraj Singh Ind 732 37.44 786 v WI at Kingston 2009

8= S. Tendulkar Ind 729 44.50 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998

Graeme Smith SA 729 40.67 785 v Ind at Kolkata 2005 10 Jacques Kallis SA 695 45.25 818 v WI at Johannesburg 2004 11 V. Sehwag Ind 683 33.98 787 v NZ at Auckland 2003 12 P. Collingwood Eng 678 36.11 688 v SA at Cape Town 2009 13= H. Gibbs SA 672 36.30 752 v SL at Durban 2003

M. Yousuf Pak 672 42.79 779 v Zim at Harare 2002 15 B. McCullum NZ 666! 29.42 666 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2009 16 Michael Clarke Aus 659 42.62 751 v SL at Melbourne 2008 17 K. Sangakkara SL 654 35.79 755 v Pak at Colombo (RPS) 2006 18= S. Jayasuriya SL 638 32.54 841 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003

G. Gambhir Ind 638 37.03 702 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009 20 R. Sarwan WI 636 43.04 784 v Ind at St Kitts 2006

Bowlers

Rank Player Team Pts Avge Econ HS Rating

1 Daniel Vettori NZ 719 31.71 4.15 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008

2 Shakib Al Hasan Ban 716! 30.36 4.03 716 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

3 Ray Price Zim 701*! 33.57 3.73 701 v SA at Centurion 2009

4 N. Kulasekara SL 687 27.41 4.50 727 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2009

5 Kyle Mills NZ 685 26.45 4.68 723 v Aus at Melbourne 2009

6 Shane Bond NZ 652 20.87 4.28 810 v SA at St George's 2007

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

8= James Anderson Eng 638 29.93 4.94 700 v Ban at Dhaka 2003

Dale Steyn SA 638* 29.23 5.28 662 v Zim at Benoni 2009 10 Johan Botha SA 637 38.93 4.47 665 v Aus at Centurion 2009 11= Shahid Afridi Pak 636 34.52 4.61 667 v Ind at Dhaka 2008

Harbhajan Singh Ind 636 32.97 4.27 738 v WI at Bridgetown 2002 13 Ajantha Mendis SL 635* 16.36 4.14 642 v SA at Centurion 2009 14= Jacob Oram NZ 630 30.76 4.37 770 v Aus at The Oval 2004

M. Muralidaran SL 630 22.98 3.91 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002 16 M. Johnson Aus 629 26.18 4.98 729 v Ban at Darwin 2008 17 Nathan Bracken Aus 626 24.36 4.41 808 v SL at St George's 2007 18 Nathan Hauritz Aus 622*! 30.29 4.30 622 v Ind at Guwahati 2009 19 M. Mortaza Ban 612 29.82 4.57 653 v Zim at Dhaka 2009 20 Saeed Ajmal Pak 610*! 27.51 3.92 610 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2009

All-rounders

Rank Player Team Pts HS Rating

1 Shakib Al Hasan Ban 453! 453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

2 Shane Watson Aus 355! 355 v Ind at Guwahati 2009

3 Yuvraj Singh Ind 337 356 v Aus at Delhi 2009

4= Jacques Kallis SA 321 506 v WI at Bridgetown 2001

Shahid Afridi Pak 321 352 v Ken at Nairobi 2002

Jacob Oram NZ 321 383 v WI at Queenstown 2008

*Indicates a provisional rating

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