Pakistan begin Test series with 108 rating points

Pakistan has started the Test series with 108 rating points, unbeaten in their last four series and victorious in the last two of them with both of those successes coming against sides above them in the table - 2-0 v England and 1-0 v India.
A 2-0 series victory in Sri Lanka will lift Pakistan's rating to 111 points and level with India, although they will remain below their arch-rivals when the ratings are recalculated to three decimal places.
Both sides start the series with injuries to key fast bowlers. Pakistan's highest ranked bowler, Shoaib Akhtar (8th), is absent after knee surgery while ninth-ranked Chaminda Vaas, is a major doubt for the home team because of a side strain.
Despite this, both line-ups can still boast one other bowler in the top 20 of the LG ICC Test Rankings with Sri Lanka's spin-wizard Muttiah Muralidaran topping the list while leg-spinner Danish Kaneria of Pakistan is in 14th position.
Further down that list, for Sri Lanka, come fast bowlers Dilhara Fernando (31st) and Lasith Malinga (33rd), both with their best-ever hauls of rating points, as well as leg-spinner Malinga Bandara (57th).
For Pakistan, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq is 30th in the bowling table, another player with a career-best tally of rating points. Sri Lanka are handicapped by the absence of their captain Marvan Atapattu with a back injury - he is ranked joint 36th in the batting list, alongside South Africa's A.B. De Villiers - and will be led by Mahela Jayawardene, their highest-placed batsman in 11th spot.
He is one of two home players among the top 20 batsmen along with Kumar Sangakkara (19th) and in this department Pakistan definitely appear to have the edge.
They can boast three players in the top 10 of the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen with captain Inzamam (4th) joined by Younis Khan (6th) and Mohammad Yousuf (7th).
Further down that list comes Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan (27th) and former captain Sanath Jayasuriya, in 29th place and under an injury cloud because of a side strain, as well as the Pakistan trio of Shahid Afridi (33rd), Kamran Akmal (35th) and Salman Butt (44th).
In the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, Jayasuriya is in 6th place and Vaas is 7th, ahead of the Pakistan duo of Afridi (10th) and Razzaq (11th).
If Sri Lanka can find some form in their upcoming Test series against Pakistan and other results go in their favour then they have a chance of making significant progress up the LG ICC Test Championship table over the next two weeks.
Sri Lanka are currently seventh in that table but if they win both Tests against Inzamamul Haq's side - the first which failed to start in Colombo on Sunday, because of heavy downpour,- they could find themselves as high as fifth.
Victories in those two matches would lift their rating from its current mark of 97 to 102 points and that would be enough to take Sri Lanka ahead of both sixth-placed South Africa and New Zealand, in fifth, given a certain set of results in their ongoing series.
To insure against that happening, New Zealand need to win their final Test against the West Indies in Napier while South Africa will have to improve upon their first Test loss against Australia over the next two matches, the first of which is ongoing in Durban.
It just goes to show how tight it is in that middle section of the LG ICC Test Championship table with only three rating points separating the three sides.
Above that pack are Pakistan, presently fourth, and knowing two Test wins in Sri Lanka will put them within touching distance of third-placed India.
Australia's Ricky Ponting leads the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen ahead of team-mate Matthew Hayden and Jacques Kallis of South Africa, while Muralitaran leads the bowling table, followed by the Australian duo of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.
Kallis is the leading Test all-rounder ahead of England's Andrew Flintoff.
The schedule for the Sri Lanka - Pakistan Test series is as follows:
March 26-30: First Test, Colombo (Sinhalese Sports Club)
April 3-7: Second Test, Kandy.
LG ICC TEST CHAMPIONSHIP (AHEAD OF THE SRI LANKA - PAKISTAN TEST SERIES, 25 MARCH 2006)

======================================

Rank/Team                       Rating

--------------------------------------

1 Australia                        129

2 England                          113

3 India                            111

4 Pakistan                         108

5 New Zealand                      100

6 South Africa                      99

7 Sri Lanka                         97

8 West Indies                       73

9 Zimbabwe                          27

10 Bangladesh                        4

======================================