New boys good, but don't forget seniors- Tendulkar

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar returned from his fourth and possibly his last tour of Australia with his legend reaching unimaginable heights. Now after constantly being on the road and in public glare for the last few months, Tendulkar is expecting some peace and quiet at home in Mumbai.

Mrs Tendulkar was having quite a bit of trouble driving among hordes of mediamen to get her husband into their building complex. Tendulkar, ever the gentleman though, obliged with the obligatory soundbyte.

"The tour was tough, competitive. But I give all the credit to my team who played the series very hard," Tendulkar said upon his arrival.

Even as he celebrated victory with his young team Down Under, Tendulkar wasn't willing to be swept away by the debate of choosing between senior and junior players. The veteran of nearly two decades of international cricket believes senior players still have a role to play in Indian cricket.

"It's been a good journey for the youngsters, but at the same time, I would like to remind everyone that you can't forget what the other senior players — who were not there on the tour — have done for India. It shouldn't be forgotten. You have to respect each individual who represents India. Because the energy was focussed in the right direction, we really, really performed well," the Master Blaster pointed out.

Tendulkar was given a standing ovation Down Under not only when he walked out after getting out everytime, but even when he walked in. For the master, beating the world champions in their own backyard is truly special.

"I'm extremely excited about the whole series," Tendulkar beamed.

For the next few days Tendulkar will look forward to putting his feet up and spending time with friends and family. It's well earned.

Tendulkar storms to the top of LG ICC Player Rankings

Gilchrist signs off in sixth place while Hayden returns to top five; Player of the Series Bracken stays in second place but Harbhajan is back in top 20

India’s little master Sachin Tendulkar has stormed to the top of LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after brilliant performances in the tri-series final which concluded in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Tendulkar jumped 10 places to top spot after scoring 399 runs in the series, including match-winning knocks of 117 not out and 91 in the finals in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.

It is almost three-and-a-half years since the 34-year-old from Mumbai has been at the top of the one-day chart. Tendulkar, who has scored 16,361 runs with 42 centuries, last spearheaded the batting chart in August 2004 during the series against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Tendulkar had entered the series in eighth place on 736 points and after battling the ups and downs during a keenly contested series, finished on 777 points to lead Australia captain Ricky Ponting by seven points.

Ponting dropped to second place after occupying the coveted position since the fifth ODI against India in Baroda in October last year. The Tasmanian had started the tri-series on 832 points but lost 62 points after scoring just 191 runs in 10 matches, including a top score of 124.

Ponting is in danger of losing further ground if his South African opposite number Graeme Smith displays the same form in the ODI series against Bangladesh he showed in the Test series. Smith is in third place and just 17 points adrift.

Australia opener Matthew Hayden, besides Tendulkar, is the only big name to have made movement in the right direction. He climbed two places to finish eighth following his 298-run contribution.

However, Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist’s hopes of ending his career on top of the batting list were dashed when the 36-year-old from New South Wales signed off in sixth place after dropping four positions.

Gilchrist scored 9,619 runs and dismissed 472 batsmen behind the wickets and held the top slot on numerous occasions between 2002 and 2006. Gilchrist had started the series in 16th position and gained 56 points after scoring 322 runs.

Australia duo of Mike Hussey and Andrew Symonds managed to hold their places in seventh and 14th positions respectively.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped one place to 10th, Australia’s Michael Clarke slipped seven places to 12th, India’s Yuvraj Singh fell one place to 18th while India’s Gautam Gambhir, who was the leading run-getter of the series with 440 runs, slipped one place to 27th.

While some of the most accomplished batsmen struggled to retain their rankings, a couple of newcomers made an instant impact.

India’s Rohit Sharma rocketed 21 places to 88th position and Australia’s James Hopes jumped 11 places to 99th spot.

In the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Australia fast bowler Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson failed to retain their places. Lee dropped two places to seventh while Johnson failed to enter the top 10 and instead slipped four places to 15th.

Harbhajan Singh, however, improved three places to 18th spot to become his country’s only bowler in that group while Praveen Kumar climbed 47 places to 75th and Irfan Pathan slipped six places to 36th position.

The bowlers list is still headed by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori with Player of the Series Nathan Bracken in second place, 20 points behind.

The top 10 in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders remains unchanged. The list is headed by Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik while Clarke in 13th place in Australia’s highest ranked all-rounder.

	Name Country Rating Career Best 1 S.R. Tendulkar IND 777 887 v Zimbabwe, 13/11/1998 2 R.T. Ponting AUS 770 832 v New Zealand, 20/12/2007 3 G.C. Smith SA 753 784 v India, 25/11/2005 4 Mohammad Yousuf PAK 752 777 v South Africa, 10/10/2003 5 M.L. Hayden AUS 740 854 v India, 15/02/2003 6 A.C. Gilchrist AUS 738 820 v Sri Lanka, 20/02/2004 7 M.E.K. Hussey AUS 736 863 v New Zealand, 28/01/2007 8 K.P. Pietersen ENG 735 834 v Australia, 08/04/2007 9 H.H. Gibbs SA 731 750 v Sri Lanka, 03/03/2003 10 M.S. Dhoni IND 728 806 v West Indies, 18/05/2006 11 S. Chanderpaul WI 721 754 v South Africa, 27/01/1999 12 M.J. Clarke AUS 717 756 v Sri Lanka, 22/02/2008 13 K.C. Sangakkara SL 716 760 v India, 11/02/2007 14 A. Symonds AUS 713 778 v India, 14/10/2007 15 A.B. de Villiers SA 703 730 v New Zealand, 25/11/2007 16 J.H. Kallis SA 698 816 v West Indies, 04/02/2004 17 R.R. Sarwan WI 692 798 v India, 23/05/2006 18 Yuvraj Singh IND 691 739 v West Indies, 20/05/2006 19 C.H. Gayle WI 690 804 v Zimbabwe, 30/11/2003 20 D.P.M.D. Jayawardena SL 678 737 v West Indies, 19/12/2001 21 I.R. Bell ENG 657 705 v India, 27/08/2007 22 P.D. Collingwood ENG 651 658 v Ireland, 30/03/2007 23 S.T. Jayasuriya SL 641 838 v Bangladesh, 14/02/2003 24 Shoaib Malik PAK 639 685 v India, 13/02/2006 25 B.B. McCullum NZ 638 638 v England, 23/02/2008 26 S.B. Styris NZ 634 663 v Bangladesh, 28/12/2007 27 G. Gambhir IND 615 636 v Sri Lanka, 26/02/2008 28 M.V. Boucher SA 611 642 v Scotland, 20/03/2007 29 P.G. Fulton NZ 610 633 v England, 09/02/2008 30 R. Dravid IND 609 754 v West Indies, 18/05/2006