Three Indians in Top Ten on the Eve of the World Cup

Three Indians; Rahul Dravid (no.2), Virender Sehwag (no. 6) and Harbhajan Singh (no.8) are in the Top Ten of the CEAT Cricket Rating for the year 2002-03 on the eve of the 2003 World Cup.

With all international cricket having come to a standstill after the end of the triangular VB Series in Australia, the CEAT Cricket Rating will remain unchanged till the World Cup gets underway on Sunday the 9th of February.

The Aussies, winners of the CEAT Cricket Rating Team of the Year Award for 2001-02, retain their place at the top of the CEAT Team Rating by virtue of their victory in the VB series. They currently have 91 points, 13 more than the second-ranked South Africa, who topped the Rating in 1998-99 and 2000-01.

Herschelle Gibbs, Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh also retain their places at the top of the batting, fielding and bowling rating respectively. Gibbs has to his credit 73 batting points. Dravid has 11 fielding points and Harbhajan has 54 bowling points. Dravid, who will be keeping wickets in most of India's matches in the World Cup despite Parthiv Patel's presence in the side, has a bright chance of regaining the top spot in the overall player rating that he yielded to Chris Gayle a couple of months ago. Gayle is only one point ahead of Dravid in the overall rating.

With a total of 54 one-day internationals to be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9th February to 23rd March, the race for the top spots in the CEAT Cricket Rating is far from over.