Babar Azam slips three places to No 12 in Test ranking

For the first time since December 2019, former Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has dropped out of ICC men’s top 10 Test batsmen’s list.

With 712 points, Babar slipped three places to No 12.

The 29-year-old’s recent lacklustre form has already drawn immense criticism as he scored just 64 runs in four innings throughout the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at the home ground. He has not hit a half-century during his previous 16 innings in Test format.

Mohammad Rizwan is the only Pakistani batter retaining a spot in the top 10 that too on the edge at 10th position.

The third Green Shirts batsman that can be spotted among the top 20 batters is Saud Shakil in the 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 to 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 ratings 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.