Star batsman Babar Azam has ostensibly lost the shine for which he was admired across the world as he has slipped out of top 10 list in ICC men’s Test batters ranking, for the first time in more than four and a half years.
The former captain has dropped to No12 with 712 points after losing three places as he seems to be in a lackluster form.
It can be established through the fact as well that the 29-year-old has not hit a half-century during his last 16 innings in Test format, while he scored 64 runs only across four innings at the home ground in the recently concluded two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
Mohammad Rizwan is the only Pakistani batter retaining a spot in top 10 that too on the edge at 10th position.
The third Green Shirts batsman that can be spotted among top 20 batters is Saud Shakil at 20th position. The middle-order batsman has plummeted by seven places from 13. Whereas, Salman Ali Agha moved nine spots up to reach 31 from 40.
On the other hand, after two back-to-back hundreds in the second Test against Sri Lanka, Joe Root’s incredible batting has pushed the English batsman on the ICC Test Batter Rankings’ lead position.
With 63 rating points between Root and Kane Williamson of New Zealand, Root (922 rating points) has the advantage and can surpass his own record. He is only one rating point away from the 923 rating he achieved in July 2022 at Edgbaston following a century against India.
Len Hutton, Jack Hobbs, and Peter May are the only three English batters with higher career rating among Test batsmen.
Even though Root had several impressive performances in the second Test match against Sri Lanka, Gus Atkinson was the player of the match for his all-round performance.
The ICC said after becoming just the third player in Men’s Test history to score a century and claim a five-wicket haul at the hallowed venue, Atkinson moved up 48 spots, into the top 20 for All-Rounders, and into the top 30 for bowlers.
Whilst on the wrong side of the result at Lord’s, there were positive moves for a number of Sri Lanka players in the latest update.
Half-centuries for Kamindu Mendis moved him up 11 spots and into 25th (635), while an eight-wicket performance from Asitha Fernando propelled the seamer into the top ten for the first time (8th, 734).
Over in Pakistan, Bangladesh’s barnstorming clean sweep series win saw several Tigers gains.
Rescuing Bangladesh’s first innings, at one stage in peril at 26/6, Litton Das’s 138 helped the team to a first innings 262, and him to a 12-place push to 15th on the batting rankings. His partner in the seventh-wicket partnership of 165, Mehedy Hasan Miraz, moved up to 75th place with the bat, and his figures of 5-61 in Pakistan’s first innings pushed him up to 7th in the all-rounders list. On the bowling side, Hasan Mahmud and Nahid Rana moved to career-best rankings.
