Tag: Babar Azam Test ranking

Pakistan captain Babar Azam jumped a spot to claim the fourth position in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Test Batting Rankings.

Babar, who could score just 76 runs in the recently-concluded two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, got a fortunate push in the rankings.

His fortunate promotion was a result of the demotion of Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head.

Labuschagne and Head were far from their best in the recently-concluded Ashes and their inability to score big in the five-match series, saw them losing crucial rating points.

Consequently, Labuschagne slipped three spots to fifth while Head was demoted two spots to the sixth position.

Last week, Babar Azam slipped to the fifth position after a below-par performance in the first Test against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan’s hero with the bat in the second Test against Sri Lanka Abdullah Shafique got the reward for his heroics as he rose 27 spots to 21st.

Whereas, Pakistan’s first Test hero Saud Shakeel remained at 15th position with a career-best 705 rating points.

Pakistan bowlers were also rewarded as Shaheen Shah Afridi, who made six scalps in two Tests against Sri Lanka, jumped three positions to sixth while his pace partner Naseem Shah climbed up seven spots to equal 37th.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s star with the ball in the second Sri Lanka Test Nauman Ali enjoyed a massive surge as he improved 13 places to 42nd — the most notable among improvers.

England produced a strong fightback during the second half of the series to tie the Ashes at 2-2 and a host of their best performers were rewarded on the updated ICC rankings lists.

Former skipper Joe Root rises one spot to second on the Test batter rankings with New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson the only player in front of him, while young teammate Harry Brook jumps two places to ninth and a new career-high rating following his 363 runs for the series.

Compatriots Jonny Bairstow (up two places to 17th) and Zak Crawley (up six rungs to equal 29th) also make some ground on the list for batters, while experienced duo Steve Smith (up three places to third) and Usman Khawaja (up one place to seventh) are the Australian players to climb the standings.

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DUBAI: Pakistan all-format captain Babar Azam achieved a significant milestone in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test batting rankings as he claimed his career-high ranking after the conclusion of historic Test series against England.

Babar, who enjoyed a prolific series with the bat against England, got the reward of his dominating year with the bat in red-ball cricket as the captain has now moved to his career-best second rank in Tests.

The right-handed batter swapped places with Australia’s veteran Steve Smith, while the latter’s countrymate Marnus Labuschagne continued to rule the batting chart with a delightful home series against West Indies.

Babar, however, moved closer to Labuschagne in the latest rankings as he had achieved 875 rating points, 61 short of Labuschagne’s.

On the up 📈

Babar Azam achieves yet another milestone in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's Test Player Rankings 👏https://t.co/06H1QIqUjO

— ICC (@ICC) December 21, 2022

 

Meanwhile, the English batters, who dominated hosts Pakistan in the recently-concluded three-match Test series were rewarded for their fantastic efforts.

Player of the Series Harry Brook jumped 11 places to join West Indies’ Jermaine Blackwood at the 44th position.

Meanwhile, England captain Ben Stokes jumped two places to secure 23rd position, while Ollie Pope captured 28th.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan endured their first-ever clean sweep at home by Ben Stokes-led England after the touring side sealed a comprehensive eight-wicket victory early on Day 4 in the final Test.

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LAHORE: Pakistan all-format skipper and currently top-ranked T20I and ODI batter Babar Azam has expressed his urge to lead the rankings across every format by improving his standings in Test cricket as well. 

Speaking at a scheduled press conference held here at Gaddafi Stadium ahead of the national team’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, the skipper stated that he was trying to accentuate his rankings in the red-ball format through his performance.

The skipper also revealed his plans for participation in Australia’s Big Bash League and made it clear that he would only think about franchise cricket after fulfilling his national duty.

“Currently, we have enough cricket of our own. I will think about Big Bash or other events only if I get the spare time” he said.

Talking about the team’s preparation for the upcoming overseas task, Babar revealed that the team combination and playing strategy would be devised only after observing the conditions in Sri Lanka while he hailed all-rounder Faheem Ashraf for playing a vital role in the team combination.

“Faheem is our key all-rounder and we get a perfect team combination due to his presence” he maintained.

“We will observe the conditions once we reach Sri Lanka and then construct the best possible team combination,” he said. “The weather of any place is not in our hands. We try our best to play according to the conditions.”

Opining on Yasir Shah’s return to the Test squad, Babar credited the leg-spinner for strengthening the team’s spin bowling attack while he claimed that Sajid Shah had been given time to work on his bowling action.

“Our spin bowling attack is strong and Yasir Shah’s return has further strengthened the attack,” he said. “We have complete confidence in our fast bowling as well.”

It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan will tour Sri Lanka to play a two-match Test series, scheduled from July 16 to July 28.

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DUBAI: Following his sensational run in the ongoing home series against Australia, Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam has claimed the fifth position in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC)’s Test batters’ rankings, here on Wednesday.

Babar, who has been enjoying a successful series with the bat so far has been rewarded by the ICC as the right-handed batter has grabbed the fifth spot in the recently updated Test batters’ ranking.

Following his sensational 196-run knock against Australia in the Karachi Test, the right-handed batter has moved three places to grab the fifth slot.

Taking to Twitter, ICC shared the updated players’ rankings.

🔹 Babar Azam enters top five of batting list
🔹 Pat Cummins makes gains in all-rounders’ chart

Both Pakistan and Australia skippers move up in the weekly update of the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings 📈

Details ➡ https://t.co/nLJOeoGJVr pic.twitter.com/WYBZhDyN3A

— ICC (@ICC) March 23, 2022

 

It is pertinent to mention here that Babar still holds the top position in the ODI and T20I batters’ rankings with 873 and 805 ratings respectively.

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