India toppled Australia to achieve their highest-ever ranking of second in the ICC ODI Championship table courtesy the series victory in New Zealand and the world champions' recent dip in form.

Brad Haddin orchestrated a fine lower-order performance and narrowly missed a century as Australia set South Africa 414 for an unlikely victory in the first Test. Haddin displayed his growing confidence in the five-day arena with a clever and brutal 94, an innings that was more important to the team than his maiden century. Australia started the day on top but by lunch they were in a commanding position after being dismissed for 319.

THERE is no doubt that this Test series against South Africa, beginning in Perth tomorrow, will be one of the greatest challenges for me, both as a captain and player. This is the series we all want to play in. The top two teams in the world challenging each other in what we hope will be ideal conditions for batsmen and bowlers. These sorts of challenges bring out the best in our team. We only have to look back two summers ago to the last Ashes series and the hype that surrounded it.

Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni extended his stay at the top of the ICC batting chart, while his pace spearhead Zaheer Khan broke into the top 10 in the bowlers' list in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued on Friday. Star middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh benefitted from West Indies' talismanic batsman Chris Gayle's mundane form to jump a rung to grab the fifth spot. Sachin Tendulkar is the only other Indian batsman in the top 20.