Times of India

Dubai, May 28: Anil Kumble retained his eighth spot among bowlers but Sachin Tendulkar dropped a rung to 14th in the batting charts of the latest ICC Test Rankings issued on Tuesday.

Kumble has 708 points in his kitty, just one less than Sri Lankan Chaminda Vaas in the bowling chart headed by another Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan (897).

Among batsmen, Tendulkar leads a pack of five Indians in top-20.

The master batsman occupies the 14th spot with 704 points followed by Rahul Dravid (15th), Virender Sehwag (17th), Sourav Ganguly (18th) and VVS Laxman (19th) -- all of whom have dropped a spot.

Australian Andrew Symonds and Englishman Andrew Strauss benefited from their match-winning knocks against West Indies and New Zealand respectively to jump eight and seven places in the batting chart.

Symonds moved up to 12th while Strauss, who made a crucial 106 in the second innings of the second Test against New Zealand at Old Trafford, leapt to 16th.

The batting rankings are still headed by two Australians -- Michael Hussey in first place and his captain Ricky Ponting, in second.

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara is close behind in third with Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan in fourth and South Africa's Jacques Kallis in fifth spot.

Meanwhile, following a brilliant second-innings haul of 6-37 England s left-arm finger-spinner Monty Panesar has taken another of his trademarked leaps, this time moving up five places to 11th position among bowlers.