Babar Azam crashes six places in ICC Test rankings; R Ashwin continues to lead bowlers' charts
Babar Azam poor form in Test cricket has reflected on the ICC rankings while his teammate Mohammad Rizwan has jumped up to a career-best rating.
Babar Azam's poor form in Test cricket has taken a toll on his place in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) rankings. The former Pakistan Test captain fell for a two-ball duck in the first innings of their match against Bangladesh and then scored 22 off 50 balls in the second. Pakistan ended up losing a Test match at home against Bangladesh for the first time, eventually falling to a 10-wicket loss.
Babar drops a whopping six places to fall from equal third to ninth following his failure to score big in Rawalpindi. His teammate Mohammad Rizwan, however, gained seven spots and achieved a new career-high rating by moving inside the top 10 at equal 10th following his century in the same match. Rizwan had scored an unbeaten 171 off 239 balls in the first innings in which Pakistan declared on 448/6.
Bangladesh's response was led by senior wicketkeeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored 191 and helped his side get to a score of 565. He has achieved a career-high rating as he gains seven spots to move to 17th.
Meanwhile, veteran India batter Virat Kohli moved up two rungs to eighth place while his captain Rohit Sharma dropped a spot to sixth in the latest ICC Test rankings released here on Wednesday. Joining Rohit and Kohli in the top 10 is young Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has moved up a spot to seventh.
Ashwin continues to lead bowlers' rankings
India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin remains out in front of the rankings for Test bowlers, although fellow tweaker Prabath Jayasuriya moves up one place to ninth for Sri Lanka following his five wickets in Manchester against England.
England seamer Chris Woakes (up four rungs to 16th) and Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando (up 10 spots to 17th) also gain some ground, while there are new career-best ratings for Pakistan right-armer Naseem Shah (up four spots to 33rd) and England's Gus Atkinson (up four places to 42nd) following good returns from their recent appearances.
