The full impact of Sachin Tendulkar's injuries and a prolonged form slump was known today with the batting star slipping out of the top 20 in Test batsmen's rankings for the first time in 14 years.
Tendulkar has managed to remain among the top 20 batsmen since 1992, and the fall in his rankings had as much to do with his missing the tour of West Indies due to a shoulder surgery as his poor run in the past few months.
While missing the series in Caribbean counts against Tendulkar, his Test match form in the last couple of years has been well below his career peak, his world record 35th Test ton against Sri Lanka late last year notwithstanding.
The Mumbai batsman averages just 28 in his last 10 Tests compared with an overall average of 55.39.
And while Tendulkar's mark of 650 rating points may have been enough to put him in the top 20 in times gone by, it is not enough now with other batsmen in world cricket scoring heavily.
The good news for Tendulkar is that he appears to be regaining fitness after surgery with two effortless centuries for English club Lashings.
India still have two players in that elite group, captain Rahul Dravid, who remains in second place behind leader Ricky Ponting, and Virender Sehwag, down one place to 13th in the latest LG ICC rankings released today.
Further down the batting rankings, V V S Laxman has moved up two places after scores of 100 and 63 in the drawn third Test in St Kitts and he now lies in 27th position.
India also has two players in the top 20 of the Player Rankings for Test bowlers, with Anil Kumble slipping down one spot to eighth position while Irfan Pathan, who missed the third Test, is 13th.
The bowling list is headed by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, clear of Makhaya Ntini of South Africa and the Australia duo of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
The West Indies has new entries in both the batting and bowling top 20s with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Corey Collymore heading in the right direction.
Chanderpaul, who made an unbeaten 97 in the first innings of the St Kitts Test, is up five spots to 17th and that means the home side now has two players inside the top 20 with captain Brian Lara unchanged in ninth position.
Collymore remains his side's leading Test bowler in the rankings, up four places to 17th place, the only West Indies bowler inside the top 20.
Further down the list Jermone Taylor's impressive form in St Kitts, where he took four wickets, has seen him move into the top 100 for the first time, and he is up 22 places to 91st, with his best-ever haul of rating points.
Daren Ganga, who made 135 -- his third Test hundred -- and 66 in the third Test, has risen 20 places in the batting list to 68th position and is another player with a career-best rating, while Marlon Samuels is up 13 places to 84th spot.
Among other batsmen, Chris Gayle is 23rd and Ramnaresh Sarwan, another centurion in the drawn match, is in 30th place.
