Babar Azam has risen to a career-high Test batter ranking, while wins for Australia, England, and India in their respective recent Test matches have seen a host of their stars climb the charts on the latest ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings.
Babar and Steve Smith swap spots as the Pakistan captain closes in on Marnus Labuschagne and is up to a career-best second (875 rating points) on the back of fifties in the final Test against England.
Smith, on the other hand, returned scores of 36 and six against South Africa and drops to third, five points behind Babar.
Travis Head continued his purple patch with yet another solid batting display against South Africa. He was one of the very few players who looked at ease on a challenging pitch for batters at The Gabba and played a crucial role in Australia taking the first-innings lead.
Head’s 92 off 96 in the first innings was laced with 13 fours and a six and saw him jump into the top five Test batters for the first time, equalling Joe Root at equal fourth on the rankings with 826 rating points.
Among England players, Ben Stokes (+2 to No.23), Ollie Pope (+1 to No.28), and Player of the Series Harry Brook (+11 and inside the top 50 for the first time at joint No.44) all were rewarded for their fantastic efforts in the final Test against Pakistan that helped them complete a 3-0 whitewash.
India batters too saw a jump in their rankings after their 188-run win against Bangladesh in Chattogram. Centurions Cheteswhar Pujara (90 and 102* in the first Test) and Shubman Gill (20 and 110) both jumped 19 and 10 places, moving to No.19 and joint No.54 respectively. Shreyas Iyer too continues to impress in the longer format and was rewarded with an 11-place rise to joint No.26 on the batters charts.
In the rankings for Test bowlers, Kagiso Rabada was the only player to make major moves inside the top 10, with the South African pace spearhead climbing four places to No.3 courtesy of four-wicket hauls in each innings of the Brisbane Test.
India left-arm spin twins Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav made considerable gains after they spun the team to victory against Bangladesh. Axar occupies No.18 (up 10 places and into the top 20 for the first time) while Kuldeep, whose last Test before the Chattogram match was in February 2021, surges 19 spots to No.49.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan managed to climb the all-rounders’ rankings and jumped a place above English counterpart Ben Stokes despite the contrasting fortunes of their respective teams. Shakib’s counter-attacking innings of 84 in the second innings helped the veteran move to third on the all-rounders’ charts while Stokes dropped to fourth.
