Adelaide (IANS) : The Indian team hit the nets at the Adelaide Oval Friday, a day ahead than expected to prepare for the fourth and the final Test against Australia starting Tuesday.

The Indian team had to go for nets Friday after they discovered that there would be a shortage of net bowlers Saturday because of Adelaide grade cricket. While the Indians are expected to taken Saturday off, Australia will train at the Adelaide Oval.

An Indian spokesperson said the team had to attend nets after they were informed that practice bowlers won’t be available Saturday.

“Tomorrow there is some tournament going on so the good bowlers are not available. We said ‘Ok today we have a nets,” the official said.

India trained for more than three hours amidst mounting criticism from ex-skipper Sunil Gavaskar that the tourists don’t work hard enough in the nets.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who will sit out of the fourth Test after being slapped with a one-match ban, also sweated it out at the nets. He is unlikely to take a tour of the nearby wineries on Saturday’s rest day.

Virender Sehwag will lead the side after Dhoni received a one-Test ban for his side’s slow over-rate in last week’s third Test.

Dubai (PTI) : Sachin Tendulkar remained static at ninth in the batting list, while Zaheer Khan fell a rung to occupy the same position in the bowling charts in the latest ICC Test rankings released on Friday.

The duo are the only Indians inside top 10 of the batting and bowling lists.

Elsewhere, off-spinner Saeed Ajmal has become world’s highest-ranked spinner after bowling Pakistan to a 10-wicket win over No. 1 ranked England in the first Test which ended in three days in Dubai.

The 34-year-old from Faisalabad not only won the Man-of-the-Match award for his figures of seven for 55 and three for 42, but also achieved a number-three ranking.

Saeed, who ended with his second 10-wicket haul in his 18th Test for Pakistan, has jumped nine places and while doing so, also leapfrogged England’s off-spinner Graeme Swann who has slipped one position to fourth, the ICC said in a statement.

Saeed, who earned 117 ratings points for his magnificent bowling performance, now has England’s second-ranked James Anderson firmly within his sights as he trails by 37 ratings points.

His spin partner Abdur Rehman has also achieved a career-best ranking. Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman, who took four for 89, is now at 14th position.

South Africa’s pace ace Dale Steyn continues to lead the bowling pack by a distance.

In the rankings for Test batsmen, the news is not very good for England batsmen. Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, who entered in third and fourth positions respectively, have slipped two and three positions respectively.

Kevin Pietersen has fallen out of the top 10. Pietersen, who scored two and zero in the Dubai Test, has lost six places and is now in 16th position while England captain Andrew Strauss has also dropped six places to 34th spot.

The only England batsmen to make any upward movements are wicketkeeper Matt Prior in 18th (up by one) and Swann in 64th (up by 11).

In contrast, the Pakistan batsmen have made positive gains with Younis Khan in fourth (up by two), captain Misbah-ul-Haq in 14th (up by three), Mohammad Hafeez in 30th (up by 15), Taufeeq Umar in 32nd (up by six) and wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal in 70th (up by 23).

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara leads the field while South Africa’s Jacques Kallis is just four ratings points behind in second position. AB de Villiers is third, 24 ratings points ahead of Younis.

New Delhi (IANS) : India’s legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev said Friday that under-fire cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni deserves to be backed as long as he leads the side.

“Dhoni is our captain and we should support him. The team needs our support,” said Kapil, who famously led India to its maiden World cup triumph in 1983.

Dhoni, who also gave India its second World Cup victory in 2011 after 25 years, has hit a rough patch. The team suffered a 0-4 whitewash in England, where it was also dislodged from its No. 1 Test status.

Dhoni’s defensive captaincy in the Test series in Australia has been severely criticised. India are also trailing 0-3 in the Border Gavaskar Trophy and are on a seven-away Test losing streak.

The India captain has also performed poorly with the bat scoring just 133 runs at an average of 16.5 in his last eight innings. Dhoni has also hinted that he may retire from the longer version of the game by 2013 keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup.

Kapil said it was time for fans to back the team.

“Yes, India have played very badly and we are all unhappy, but let’s talk about them only after the series,” Kapil said.