Series win sees Harbhajan up the order

Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Tuesday was rewarded for his bowling prowess in the recently concluded India-Australia series, as he moved up to the career-best seventh spot in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers.

Harbhajan, who was at the ninth position, gained two places to become seventh, the highest ranking the spin bowler has enjoyed since 2003.The 28-year-old took seven wickets in the fourth Test against Australia at Nagpur and, as a result, has moved past Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka and Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar but is still well behind the next highest placed Ryan Sidebottom of England and also Australia's Brett Lee, who had a disappointing series by his standards taking eight wickets at an average of 61.62.Harbhajan's batting impressed in this series.

His 18 not out and 52 at Nagpur pushed him six places up to 87th spot in the rankings for Test batsmen and two places to 11th in the all-rounders' list.However, India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan lost three places following the Nagpur Test and is placed 18th.

The left-arm pacer took just one wicket for 125 runs in the fourth Test as his new-ball partner Ishant Sharma continued to shine at the other end.Sharma is up six places to 30th position after taking another four wickets in the match and being named as the player of the series.

It is the first time the 20-year-old has broken into the top 30 during his short career to date.Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who made his debut in the series against the world-champions, is placed 43rd, a remarkable showing considering he has played just three Tests. His Australian spin counterpart, Jason Krejza also shot straight to 49th position after taking 12 wickets on debut at Nagpur.

Only two bowlers - Bob Massie (16-137) for Australia against England at Lord's in 1972 and Narendra Hirwani (16-136) for India in 1988 against the West Indies at what was then called Madras - have taken more wickets on debut than the 25-year-old New South Welshman.Mind you, only one bowler in history - Tommy Scott of the West Indies (9-374 against England at his home ground of Sabina Park, Jamaica in 1930) - has conceded more runs in a match than the 358 Krejza gave up at Nagpur.

Krejza's team-mate Mitchell Johnson has dropped three places to 31st position, meaning Australia now has only two bowlers in the top 30 - Lee and third-placed Stuart Clark - the first time for more than 20 years that has happened.

The bowling rankings continue to be headed by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidaran, followed by South Africa's Dale Steyn in second place and Clark.In the batting rankings Sachin Tendulkar continued his current patch of good form registering his 40th Test century at that match in Nagpur.

The Little Master gained three places in the process and now sits in 16th position just behind Australia vice-captain Michael Clarke, who lost one place to 15th , and England's Alastair Cook, who is in the England squad to face India in two Tests next month.

Virender Sehwag moved up two places to 11th spot after scoring 66 and 92 in the match and is now very close behind Jacques Kallis of South Africa (in 10th place) and Matthew Hayden of Australia (in ninth place).West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul still tops the batting list followed very closely by Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka in second place.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting slipped two places to seventh in the rankings and is out of the top five for the first time since 2004. The Tasmanian scored a century in the first innings of the first Test of the four-match series but since then has averaged only 23.83 and with competition fierce at the top of the player rankings, that has led to his speedy slide down the list.

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India take Nagpur Test by 172 runs, clinch series 2-0

India have recorded a historic series win over the world champions as they beat Australia by 172 runs in the Nagpur Test to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They won a Test series 2-0 against Australia after 28 years.

After Ishant Sharma built early inroads in the Australian batting, Indian spinners triggered the collapse, as the visitors were bundled for runs in reply to India's 382 runs. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra picked 3 wickets while Harbhajan Singh took four wickets.

Mishra first struck with his top-spinner and dismissed Michael Hussey for 19 runs. Brad Haddin was his second victim. Haddin lofted one from Mishra but perished to Sachin Tendulkar at mid-on as his 100th Test catch. He soon dismissed Jason Krejza as the eighth wicket.

Harbhajan Singh, from the other end, tightened the noose and was rewarded with the wickets of Matthew Hayden and Shane Watson. Hayden, who struggled throughout the series for a big knock, finally fired and kept the hopes floating for Australia but Harbhajan caught him plumb for 77 runs. Watson (3) was next to depart. He went on his back-foot and tried to cut but was beaten by the bounce. The ball took an edge and Dhoni collected it safely.

Earlier, Ishant picked two crucial wickets to put India in command. Batsmen to depart were Simon Katich and Michael Clarke. In reply to India's 382 runs, Australia resumed batting with their overnight score of 13/0 on Monday. Katich and Hayden started of aggressively. Katich tried to pull a swinging delivery from Ishant, going outside the off-stump, but the bat took a top edge and India skipper MS Dhoni took a well-judged high catch to send the first man back for 16 runs.

Ponting, who came next, soon joined Katich in the dressing room as Mishra's charging from mid-off, collected the ball swiftly and dived to knock the stumps on the non-striker's end. Ponting could contribute just 8 runs.

Clarke, Ponting's deputy, had a dismissal similar to the first innings. He nudged a short-ball angling away from him and Dhoni happily took an easy catch behind the wicket. Clarke made 22 runs and 45 runs with Hayden for the third wicket.
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Harbhajan claims his 300th victim

Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh could not have chosen any batsman other than Ricky Ponting as his 300th Test victim whom he dismissed for the tenth time on Day 2 of the Nagpur Test.

He became the third highest Indian wicket-taker after Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev and first Indian off-spinner to get 300 wickets. He pitched the ball just outside the off-stump. The ball turned in sharply to beat Ponting (24) and clip the bails. This was also Bhajji's 200th wicket on the Indian soil.

On the other hand, bad luck seems to have picked Matthew Hayden as its favourite child on this tour as he once gain failed to convert the start into a big knock. Just when he looked murderous, a direct throw from M. Vijay saw him short of crease for 16 runs.

Earlier, Australia's off-spinner Jason Krejza gave a sensational start to his Test career as he bagged eight wickets in his maiden Test at Nagpur and bundled India for 441 runs in their first innings.

After picking Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman on Thursday, Krejza on Day 2 cleaned up the Indian tail.

He first broke the 119-run partnership between MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly by foxing the former. The Indian skipper tried to paddle sweep but missed the delivery and the ball hit the leg-stump. Ganguly, who was looking set for the farewell ton, edged one to Michael Clarke at first slip.

Ganguly slammed 35th Test fifty, his 7th against Australia. Ganguly played 153 balls and hit eight 4s and one 6 during his knock of 85 runs. Dhoni also got 12th half-century, his third against the visitors, before falling for 56 runs.

Soon after they fell, Krejza hurried the Indian tail-enders pack in the pavilion. He deceived Zaheer Khan with his flight and the Indian fast bowler edged it to the stumps for just 1 run. In the very next delivery, his spinning counterpart Amit Mishra (0) was done by the 'doosra'. After pitching the ball straightened and hit the off-stump.

Ishant Sharma survived few deliveries but he soon nudged one to Katich who took a sharp catch at short leg.

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