New Delhi: The Indian cricket team has taken the second spot in the International Cricket Council's Test rankings, announced on Monday. While South Africa consolidated it's place at the top, England slipped to fall behind India and take the third spot

India's ascent is attributed mainly to England's inconsistent performances against Pakistan, South Africa and eight-ranked New Zealand. Also, India's massive defeats against Alastair Cook's team and Australia are now weighted at 50 per cent which means the impact of the losses has been reduced in the rankings

England though have a chance to reclaim the second spot if the team claims the Ashes series against Australia. To do that, Cook and Co. will have to seal the series by a 3-0 margin or better. If however, Michael Clarke's touring party prevails, England will further go down a place with the Aussies taking the third position.

Latest Test rankings: 1) South Africa, 2) India, 3) England, 4) Australia, 5) Pakistan, 6) West Indies, 7) Sri Lanka, 8) New Zealand and 9) Bangladesh.

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Even in a tournament as short as this tri-series, there's time for plenty of twists and turns. Five days ago, West Indies were on top with two wins in two games, and seemed to be cruising to the finals. Instead, after two consecutive losses, they will spend Tuesday anxiously tracking the final league game, cheering Sri Lanka on against India. A defeat for India will send both Sri Lanka and West Indies through to the final. 

Sri Lanka, after their 39-run rain-influenced victory over the home side, are the best placed of the three teams. Even with a game in hand, they have a share of the top spot and their run-rate is robust thanks to their 161-run thrashing of India last week. Unless they have an absolute horror outing today and lose by something in the range of 210 runs, they will be in the final.

India are currently the laggards, but a victory will almost certainly take them into the final at the expense of West Indies. For a target below 321, India can win off the last ball and still get their net run-rate above that of West Indies. For larger targets, India will need to win with a few deliveries to spare (or by a margin of a handful of runs). 

Rain is expected in Port-of-Spain on Tuesday, however, and though there is a reserve day, in the event the match is washed out, India will be eliminated. 

Form guide

(most recent first, last five completed matches)

Sri Lanka WWLLW

India WLLWW

In the spotlight

Indian fans haven't quite warmed up to a tournament which came so quickly on the heels of a triumphant Champions Trophy, but their interest will have been stoked by the prospect of watching the man widely tipped to be India's next leader, Virat Kohli, taking charge. While he has matured rapidly in the past couple of years, his early reputation of being a hothead hasn't been completed wiped out. An early challenge will be to deal with the fallout of an on-field tiff between Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina, images of which have dominated cricket news in India over the past few days. 

Dinesh Chandimal may have been promoted to the Sri Lankan vice-captaincy but his one-day record over the past year has been mediocre - just one half-century and seven single-digit scores in 15 innings. With Kumar Sangakkara keeping wicket, Chandimal is playing as a specialist batsman, and will need better numbers if he wants to keep other contenders at bay.

Team news

After their previous game stretched over two days, Sri Lanka will be playing on a third consecutive day. There might have been a temptation to give their spearhead Lasith Malinga a rest, but with Nuwan Kulasekara injuring his finger on Monday, they are likely to play Malinga. Sri Lanka, surprisingly, left out Rangana Herath against West Indies and it remains to be seen whether they continue with Sachithra Senanayake as the lead spinner

Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Mahela Jayawardene, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Dilhara Lokuhettige, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Sachithra Senanayake, 11 Shaminda Eranga 

India are likely to go in with the same combination that gave them a thumping 102-run win over West Indies on Friday. 

India (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 M Vijay, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav

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England have their sights set on Michael Clarke as the Ashes looms, knowing that a quiet series for Australia's captain will go a long way to ensuring the urn does not change hands.

Graeme Swann is well aware of the impact that restricting the opposition captain's runs can have after watching Ricky Ponting endure a miserable series in 2010-11. On that occasion, England also limited Clarke's output to 193 runs in five Tests - the last of which is his first in charge - and know that this current Australia side are hugely reliant on his performances.

Clarke is far and away Australia's leading batsman, holding together what has often looked a callow order recently, and since returning from the back injury that kept him out of the Champions Trophy, has made good use of the warm-up matches against Somerset and Worcestershire with scores of 45, 26, 62 and 124.

"He was their form batsman in England in 2009, although he didn't have such a good series in Australia," Swann told ESPNcricinfo. "The year he's had has been phenomenal, so we'll be hoping to cut the head off the serpent if you like, as a captain.

"The two Ashes series I've played, and one of the main reasons we've won, is because we've been able to make some of their best players have poor series," he added. "Clarke and Ponting last time, and Mike Hussey, until The Oval, in 2009.

"That's what you need to do to win big series, make sure the match-winners in their team don't have a chance to perform. We'll have two or three players on their team we'll definitely be looking at to keep especially quiet - although you hope everyone on the opposition has a poor series."

Swann fully appreciates the power that a prolific can have for a side having watched Alastair Cook begin his full-time captaincy career in with a consistently high return. "The best thing he's done is lead from the front by scoring runs. There is no greater way for a team to get behind the captain than watch him pile on the runs," Swann said.

Unsurprisingly, even though Swann is one of more forthcoming England players, he would not be drawn much in Australia's recent problems. However, he has always held Darren Lehmann, their new coach, in the highest regard since the pair duelled together on the field.

"We don't know what their issues were and it's not really for us to try and find out, although I'm sure we'd like to know, because everyone likes a gossip," he said. "What I do know is that Darren Lehmann was a magnificent player, second to none, only Brian Lara has been a better player of those I've bowled against.

"They have a good man, he's a good fella. Whether that brings the team together is probably for people to judge at the end of the summer. You could get rid of every clique and every problem in a team, but if you don't win it doesn't matter."

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