Sports India

After earning an honourable draw in the first Test against England Monday, Pakistani captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has climbed one place to third and closed the gap with Indian skipper Rahul Dravid in the official International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings.

Inzamam scored 69 and an unbeaten match-saving 56 at Lords to take his rating points tally to 846 - 36 less than that of Dravid, who retained his second place in the rankings.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting leads the table with 931 points, the ICC announced here Tuesday.

Pakistan’s Mohammed Yousuf, who scored 202 and 48 in the drawn Test, climbed two places to fifth with 828 points. Younis Khan (788), who missed the Test through injury, is the third Pakistani in the list, at seventh position after slipping one place.

There was no change in the top 10 positions in the bowlers’ list, which is headed by Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan with 901 points.

Leg-spinner Anil Kumble is the only Indian in the top 10, with 736 points.

The rankings:

Batsmen:

1 Ricky Ponting (Australia) 931 points

2 Rahul Dravid (India) 882

3 Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) 846

4 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 832

5 Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan) 828

6 Matthew Hayden (Australia) 808

7 Younis Khan (Pakistan) 788

8 Mike Hussey (Australia) 780

9 Brian Lara (West Indies) 732

10 Kevin Pietersen (England) 724

Bowlers:

1 Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 901 points

2 Makhaya Ntini (South Africa) 841

3 Shane Warne (Australia) 813

4 Glenn McGrath (Australia) 811

5 Matthew Hoggard (England) 776

6 Andrew Flintoff (England) 759

7 Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) 743

8 Anil Kumble (India) 736

9 Shane Bond (New Zealand) 720

10 Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) 700 and Corey Collymore (West Indies) 700 (joint)

All-rounders:

1 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 486 points

2 Andrew Flintoff (England) 454

3 Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 302

4 Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) 290

5 Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) 271