Australia slip to fifth place in Test rankings

The Ponting led side has slipped to fifth place in the ICC rankings for Test teams.

Following the 2-0 clean-sweep by India in the 2-match Test series, the Ponting led Australian team has slipped to fifth place in the ICC rankings for Test teams.

India had entered the series ranked number one and even if they had lost both matches to the Australians, they would still have been ranked number one.

India entered the series with 127 rating points, and they now have 130 points following their series win.

South Africa, who are second in the ICC rankings, are on 119 points followed by Sri Lanka with 115 points and England who have 112 points.

Australia, who started the Test series against India with 113 points, lost 3 points following their losses.

ICC rankings for Test teams at the end of the India-Australia series:

Ranking	Team	Matches	Rating Points
1	India	34	130
2	South Africa	29	119
3	Sri Lanka	23	115
4	England	39	112
5	Australia	37	110
6	Pakistan	23	83
7	West Indies	21	79
8	New Zealand	25	78
9	Bangladesh	19	7

Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar, thanks to his brilliant performance in this series, regained the number one spot on the ICC ranking for Test batsmen. He was ranked number three before the start of the series. On the other hand, Michael Clarke, who was in the 8th position before the series, is now out of the top ten.

ICC ranking for batsmen (Tests):

Ranking	Player	Rating Points
1	Sachin Tendulkar	891
2	Kumar Sangakkara	874
3	Virender Sehwag	819
4	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	807
4	Mahela Jayawardane	807
6	Jacques Kallis	791
7	Graeme Smith	787
8	V.V.S. Laxman	767
9	Ross Taylor	766
10	A.B. de Villiers	762

Zaheer Khan, who was ranked fifth prior to the start of the Australia series, has moved up to the fourth place, while Mitchell Johnson, who was in fourth, has now slipped to the 7th spot in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers. Harbhajan Singh, who was in the 9th place before the start of the series, has also moved up a place.

ICC ranking for bowlers (Tests):

Ranking	Player	Rating Points
1	Dale Steyn	887
2	Graeme Swann	858
3	Mohammad Asif	753
4	Zaheer Khan	744
4	James Anderson	744
6	Morne Morkel	739
7	Mitchell Johnson	735
8	Harbhajan Singh	679
9	Doug Bollinger	659
10	Mohammad Aamer	658