DUBAI, Jul 18 (UNI): Swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag retained his position at the top of the ICC Test rankings which he attained after hitting two consecutive centuries against South Africa earlier this year.
Sehwag (863 points) is closely followed by two Sri Lankans, Mahela Jayawardena (836) and Kumara Sangakara (835), who were at the second and third spots respectively.
The ICC Test batsmen rankings did not see much shuffling except Australia's Simon Katich climbing six positions to replace Sachin Tendulkar at the sixth position.
Katich's innings of 80 and 83 in the first Spirit of Cricket Test match against Pakistan helped the 34-year-old left-handed batsman to take joint sixth place along with West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Sehwag's opening partner Gautam Gambhir also strengthened his position in the log replacing Australia's Michael Clarke at the fourth place.
Among the bowlers, veteran paceman Zaheer Khan continued to remain the top India bowler at the sixth place, while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh followed him at the seventh position.
Pakistan's pacer Mohammad Asif has gained two places to attain second position in the ICC Player Rankings despite his side's defeat to Australia at the Lord's.
The 27-year-old, who has played in 18 Tests, took 3-63 in the first innings at Lord's and 3-77 in the second and has managed to move ahead of ICC Cricketer of the Year, Mitchell Johnson, who has now slipped to fourth place after the Australian only took one wicket in the match.
It is Asif's highest ranking till date but he still has some way to go if he wants to catch South Africa's Dale Steyn who currently tops the bowlers list.
Soon to retire Sri Lankan wizard Muthiah Muralidaran, who needs eight more wicket to reach the mile stone figure of 800 in Test matches, an outcome which could well see him climb from his current fifth place in the bowlers' ranking and bid adieu on a high note.
Jacques Kallis still tops the all-rounders' rankings, followed by Daniel Vettori of New Zealand and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan.
Johnson has dropped out of the top five though and now occupies sixth place.
Gill dedicates SP Mukherjee Swimming Complex to nation NEW DELHI, Jul 18 (UNI): Sports Minister MS Gill today inaugurated the renovated Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Complex a Commonwealth Games venue - and dedicated the state-of-the-art arena to the nation.
"This complex took a lot of time to complete.
Much more than what was originally scheduled.
But it has now been completed and is better than the swimming complex at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne," Gill told reporters at the inauguration ceremony here.
"I want to dedicate this wonderful sports complex to the nation.
I hope our swimmers will perform creditably at the Commonwealth Games so that the youth is inspired to take up swimming," he added.
The minister admitted that almost all the venues which will play host to the Commonwealth Games have taken a lot of time to complete, but was quick to add that all the stadiums will be ready before the showpiece event gets underway from October 3.
"I have to admit that when we got the Games in 2003, we should have planned everything much better.
A lot of time has gone after 2003 and everything should have been in place by now.
"But most of the stadiums have been completed.
The ones that are not yet ready are in the final stages of preparation and will be handed over to the athletes by August 1," Gill asserted.
The Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Complex has a total of three Olympic sized pools which will be used for the races.
Apart from that, it also has a diving pool and warm-up pools.
The complex, which sprawls over an area of 15,268 square meters, can accomodate around 5,000 spectators and has been renovated at a total cost of Rs 377 crores.
