MUMBAI: India do not feel under any pressure to become cricket's top-ranked Test side when the third and final match against Sri Lanka starts here on Wednesday, captain Mahendra Dhoni said.

Dhoni's men, who lead the series 1-0, will dislodge South Africa at the top of the official Test rankings for the first time if they win the match and secure a 2-0 scoreline. A draw or a defeat for the hosts at the Brabourne Stadium, which is holding in first Test for 36 years, will keep Sri Lanka in second place behind South Africa and India in third.

"I think winning the series is more important, but at the end of the day if we do that it will reflect on the ratings," Dhoni said today. "We are not thinking about the ranking because you don't really want to be under pressure, you just want to play your natural game and play according to the game plan. We don't think about the ratings because we know if we keep winning, the ratings will take care of themselves."

India are buoyant after winning the second Test in Kanpur by an innings and 144 runs inside four days last week, following a high-scoring draw in the first match in Ahmedabad. "There was no way we could have taken 20 wickets on that flat Ahmedabad wicket," said Dhoni. "The bowlers did a good job in Kanpur because after the first two days it looked like another match with big scores." Centuries from Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid helped India pile up 642 and bowl the Sri Lankans out for 229 and 269.

Left-hander Gambhir, who has hit centuries in each of his last four Tests, will miss the match due to his sister's wedding on Thursday and will be replaced by Murali Vijay. Dhoni and his Sri Lankan counterpart Kumar Sangakkara said they expected the seamers and spinners to do well on the grassless Brabourne Stadium wicket, indicating a draw was far from their minds.

The tourists appear certain to abandon their second Test policy of playing three spinners, with unorthodox slow bowler Ajantha Mendis likely to make way for seamer Nuwan Kulasekara. "Nuwan has the edge over fast bowler Dilhara Fernando, but we will have another look at the wicket ahead of the toss before deciding our team," said Sangakkara.

Sangakkara was confident his team can bounce back to win their first ever Test match on Indian soil, and backed versatile off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan to overcome his poor run so far. "Murali is still our spearhead and I back him 100 per cent every time he takes the field. He's had a few off-days but that does not make him a worse bowler." Muralitharan, the world's leading Test bowler with 788 wickets, has taken just five in the series so far at an unflattering average of 79.20.