England's Kevin Pietersen piped Indian captain Rahul Dravid to take the third spot in batsmen's list in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Test players rakings released on Wednesday.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting tops the list followed by Pakistan's Mohammed Yousuf.
Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara has gone up two places to fifth spot after a brilliant performance in the drawn Test series against New Zealand.
Sangakkara scored 268 runs at an average of 134 in the two Tests. He made an unbeaten 100 in the first Test and backed it with another unbeaten 156 in the second.
Among the bowlers, Muttiah Muralidaran, continued to stretch his lead at the top of the list. India's Anil Kumble also progressed as he moved up three places to fifth spot, overtaking Matthew Hoggard, Shane Bond and Andrew Flintoff in the process.
ICC Test Rankings
Batsmen:
1 Ricky Ponting (Australia) 940
2 Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan) 933
3 Kevin Pietersen (England) 896
4 Rahul Dravid (India) 865
5 Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 857
{{/usCountry}}5 Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 857
{{/usCountry}}6 Mike Hussey (Australia) 835
7 Brian Lara (West Indies) 801
8 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 792
9 Younis Khan (Pakistan) 786
10 Matthew Hayden (Australia) 771
Bowlers:
1 Muttiah Muralidaran (Sri Lanka) 913
2 Makhaya Ntini (South Africa) 824
3 Glenn McGrath (Australia) 820
4 Shane Warne (Australia) 782
5 Anil Kumble (India) 753
6 Mathew Hoggard (England) 746
7 Shane Bond (New Zealand) 722
8 Andrew Flintoff (England) 712
9 Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) 700
10 Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 697
All-rounders:
1 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 449
2 Andrew Flintoff (England) 399
3 Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) 329
4 Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 316
5 Irfan Pathan (India) 264