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Virender Sehwag’s careerbest 319 against South Africa catapulted him to the 12th spot in the ICC Test Rankings, making .him the highest ranked Indian in the batting chart.

Sehwag, whose triple ton was the fastest in Test history, jumped 13 places to 12th spot after a massive 17 per cent rise in his rating that saw him leapfrogging compatriots Rahul Dravid (13th), Sachin Tendulkar (15th) and VVS Laxman (18th).

On current form, Sehwag has a realistic chance of returning to the top 10. He is within touching distance of 10th place Kevin Pietersen of England who is just behind ninth-placed Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies. Dravid himself rose two places to 13th following his 25th Test century, while Tendulkar dropped three places to 15th position after a fifth-ball duck .in the Chennai Test against South Africa.

Besides Sehwag, South African batting duo of Hashim Amla and Neil McKenzie have also made significant upward movement. Amla, who made scores of 159 and 81, rockete’dup 10 places to a career-best 24th spot while McKenzie, who contributed 94 and 155 not out, jumped 26 places to 36th position.

Jacques Kailis, however, continued his slide in the rankings as he slipped another place to drop to fourth behind Australia’s Ricky Ponting, while captain Graeme Smith fell two places to 16th position.

Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla turned out to be the heroes in Chennai as runs flowed from their bats in the first of three Tests. However, there was one factor working against the bowlers - the pitch. The Chepauk track just did not have anything in it for any bowler throughout all the five days.

 Both the skippers - Anil Kumble and Graeme Smith - criticised the pitch after the match and hoped for a balanced contest between the bat and the ball in the rest of the series. It is learnt that Smith has heavily criticised the strip in Chennai in his report to the match referee Roshan Mahanama. As a result, as both the teams move to Ahmedabad for the second Test, the pitch at Motera remains the talking point. And the 22-yard strip in question bears a look exactly opposite to the one in Chennai.

When both the teams reach the stadium for training on Tuesday, the bowlers’ eyes, especially that of Ishant Sharma and Dale,Steyn and Co., will light up at the sight of the grass at the centre.

On Monday afternoon, the pitch had a tinge of live grass’on it, something which was missing in Chennai. And if Dhiraj Parsana, the curator, said the grass cover will remain even when both the captains walk out for toss on Thursday morning.

“I can assure you that it will be a sporting track. There have been no instructions to prepare a specific pitch and my job is to give a sporting track.” Parsana, a former Test cricketer, explained the logic behind keeping the grass cover. “There is a vast difference between the weather in Chennai and Ahmedabad,” Parsana, who is also heading the West Zone wing of the BCCl’s Pitch and Ground committee, said.