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Dhoni smashes his way to 3rd spot
The dashing player is the first Indian to be in top three after Tendulkar in 2004.
Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has smashed his way into the third place in one-day batting rankings. He is the first Indian batsman to occupy a slot in the top three after Sachin Tendulkar in 2004.
Dhoni was dismissed only once in hitting 219 runs in four innings against Pakistan in the five-match series at a strike rate of 136.87.
His ascendancy breaks an Australian stranglehold on the top of the table which had seen the World Champions holding the top four places after the recent VB series.
Dhoni is joined in the top 10 by the leading run scorer of the series Yuvraj Singh, who climbed to ninth in the LG ICC table.
Rahul Dravid, 10th, is the next highest ranked Indian with Tendulkar in 17th place.
Irfan Pathan is the other player to benefit most from India's 4-1 success in Pakistan. As well as being fourth in the bowling table, his 65-run contribution in the first match of the series has helped lift him to fourth in the list of all-rounders.
The margin of victory lifted India to 4th place in ODI Championship ahead of Pakistan for the first time since June 2004.
A successful home ODI series against England in March and April could see India climb as high as second.
India's resurgence means New Zealand must stay on a winning path to hold onto third place in the official ODI table. After one ODI against the West Indies, they have the same number of points as India but remain a place higher when the ratings are recalculated to three decimal places.
