DUBAI: Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam got a fortunate push in the latest ICC Test Batting Rankings which propelled him closer to the summit.
Injured New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who last played a Test in March this year, managed to cling on to the spot, he occupied last week.
Following the latest update, the battle for Test ranking supremacy intensified after Australia’s World Test Championship (WTC) Final’s hero Travis Head and Pakistan captain Babar Azam emerged as the newest challenger to the No.1 Test batter ranking.
The Australian batter jumped two places and up to second behind New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson on the back of his tremendous Ashes series against England that has already netted the 29-year-old a total of 266 runs at an average of 44.33.
Head’s rise up the batter charts has seen yet another re-shuffle at the top of the batting rankings, with Pakistan captain Babar Azam jumping three places to third and fellow Australians Steve Smith (fourth) and Marnus Labuschagne (fifth) and England’s Joe Root (sixth) all dropping one spot in what is an enthralling race for top billing.
Williamson’s top position remains in constant doubt as the Kiwi batter is just 11 rating points clear of second-placed Head and 22 from Babar Azam at third.
All top six batters are now in contention to get the hold of the top spot in the Test batting rankings as they are separated by minimal differences in the rating points.
There was plenty of good news for England following the narrow three-wicket triumph in Leeds, with young gun Harry Brook rising one place to a career-high rating and 12th place in the rankings after his superb half-century in the second innings and skipper Ben Stokes improved five spots to 18th.
England’s seamers also enjoyed some joy via the latest Test bowler rankings, with veteran right-armer Stuart Broad improving four spots to sixth behind India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and returning pacer Mark Wood jumping nine places to 26th overall following his Player of the Match heroics against the Aussies.
Australia quick Mitchell Starc claimed seven wickets in that Headingley Test and was duly rewarded with a three-spot jump on the bowler rankings to 11th overall.
The recently-completed ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament in Zimbabwe saw some changes to the latest ODI rankings. It was no surprise that a host of Sri Lanka stars were the main beneficiaries after their unbeaten run at the event saw them named champions and helped them qualify for the 50-over World Cup in India at the end of the year.
Australia quick Mitchell Starc claimed seven wickets in that Headingley Test and was duly rewarded with a three-spot jump on the bowler rankings to 11th overall.
The recently-completed ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament in Zimbabwe saw some changes to the latest ODI rankings. It was no surprise that a host of Sri Lanka stars were the main beneficiaries after their unbeaten run at the event saw them named champions and helped them qualify for the 50-over World Cup in India at the end of the year.
Netherlands seamer Logan van Beek (up 14 places on the bowler rankings to 52nd) was the other big mover following the Qualifier tournament, while there was some eye-catching improvement from a host of players following the ODI series between Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Century makers Ibrahim Zadran (up 11 places to 16th) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (up 37 spots to 45th) were the biggest movers on the list for ODI batters, while star spinner Rashid Khan (up three spots to fourth) and left-armer Fazalhaq Farooqi (up 58 places to equal 33rd) also made some ground on the bowler rankings.
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