Dhoni in touching distance of no.1 spot

Indian One-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is within touching distance of regaining the top spot in the ICC ODI Player Rankings after his consistent show with the bat in the just-concluded Asia Cup helped him jump two spots in the chart.

Dhoni was last at the head of affairs among the world's top ODI batsmen for one week in April 2006 and now he has only South Africa's Graeme Smith ahead of him.

Dhoni moved up two places in the rankings as a result of his 327 runs during the tournament. He was dismissed just twice in five innings and had a strike-rate of 91 runs per 100 balls.

Dhoni's gain, meanwhile, is Sachin Tendulkar's loss as the little master, who missed the tournament, drops four places to number six in the listings.

Both Andrew Symonds and Kumar Sangakkara climbed up four spots with the Australian in ninth position and the Sri Lankan a place further back.

Top 20 in Fifa rankings

 Spain head the Fifa world rankings after triumphing at Euro 2008 in style.

1. (4) Spain
2. (3) Italy
3. (5) Germany
4. (2) Brazil
5. (10) Netherlands
6. (1) Argentina
7. (15) Croatia
8. (6) Czech Republic
9. (11) Portugal
10. (7) France
11. (24) Russia
12. (12) Romania
13. (13) Cameroon
14. (20) Turkey
15. (9) England
16. (17) Scotland
17. (18) Bulgaria
18. (8) Greece
19. (14) Mexico
20. (16) Ghana