Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen climb in recent ICC Test rankings
In recent updates to the ICC Test rankings, several Pakistani cricketers have seen improvements.
Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain for white-ball cricket, has moved up to 11th place with 712 rating points, despite some recent criticism of his Test performance against Bangladesh.
Mohammad Rizwan, the wicketkeeper-batter, has climbed to 9th place with 720 rating points. He earned this spot by scoring 171 runs from 239 balls and 51 runs from 80 balls in the first Test against Bangladesh.
However, Saud Shakeel has dropped to 21st place with 661 rating points, and Salman Agha has fallen to 32nd place with 606 rating points.
Sri Lankan players have also made gains in the rankings following their Test win against England at The Oval. Dhananjaya de Silva is now 13th, Kusal Mendis is 19th, and Nissanka has moved up to 39th.
England’s Joe Root remains the top Test batter at number 1.
In bowling, Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi has risen to 10th place with 709 rating points. On the other hand, Hasan Ali has dropped to 34th with 540 rating points, and Naseem Shah is at 37th with 531 points.
Sri Lankan bowlers Lahiru Kumara and Milan Rathnayake are now 32nd and 84th, respectively. English player Olly Stone has moved up to 74th after taking three wickets in the first innings against Sri Lanka.
Leading the bowling rankings is India’s Ravichandran Ashwin with 870 points, followed by Australia’s Josh Hazlewood and Jasprit Bumrah, who are tied for second place with 847 points each.
