Close on the heels of India's triumph in the first ODI, Dhoni eclipsed West Indies skipper Chris Gayle to reach the top rank. Dhoni has 792 points while Gayle is second with the tally of 783.

Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir gained in four places to sneak into the top-20 bracket.

With the five-match ODI series still wide open in Colombo, the 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Dhoni will get enough opportunity to put daylight between him and the chasing pack running for the number one spot.

Yuvraj Singh remained static at seventh place while Sachin Tendulkar slided down two rungs to be 12th.

South Africa's AB de Villiers rejoined the top 10 batsmen rankings owing to his strong batting against Australia, where he appeared in four of the five ODIs and averaged 63.66 for the series.

Although Australia suffered a series defeat, a splendid batting display by Michael Hussey saw him climb two places to return to the top five. Hussey scored 78 in the fifth and final ODI in Perth as his side went down by 39 runs.

However, South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis slipped two places to 14th but Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara rose one place to join Pakistan's Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt at 16th position.

Zaheer Khan climbed two places to be tied with star Englishman Andrew Flintoff at ninth place in bowlers' rankings. None other Indian featured among the top-20.

The top five remained unchanged with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori at the top, followed by Sri Lanka's Nuwan Kulasekara.

South African stand-in skipper for the ODI series against Australia, Johan Botha broke into top 20 bowlers though after his impressive show at the series Down Under which the Proteas won 4-1.

The 26-year-old Botha shot up 13 places to reach the highest ranking of his career at 13th place. He scalped eight wickets at an average of 23.50 in the five-match series.

Also compatriot Dale Steyn gained 10 places to take 35th spot after his four-match appearance in Australia.