Pakistan captain Babar Azam reaches career-best second spot in Test rankings

DUBAI: Pakistan captain Babar Azam attained a career-best second position in the latest ICC Mens Test Rankings for batters released on Wednesday while Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel also made jumps in their respective rankings in the bowlers category.

Babar scored two half-centuries (78 and 54) in the final Test of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series against England in Karachi, which Pakistan lost to concede the series 3-0 at home. His knocks helped him overtake Steve Smith, who managed 36 and six in a low-scoring game between Australia and South Africa in Brisbane.

Pakistan captain, who is ranked first in ODIs and fourth in T20Is, trails Marnus Labuschagne by 61 points in the Test rankings.

Australia batter Travis Head, whose first innings score of 92 was the highest in the Brisbane Test, has gained three slots to reach a career-best fourth position as he crosses the 800-rating point mark for the first time in his career. His previous best was fifth position in January this year.

In the latest weekly update that also takes into account performances in the first Test of the WTC series between Bangladesh and India in Chattogram, Cheteshwar Pujara's knocks of 90 and 102 not out have lifted him 10 positions to 16th while Shreyas Iyer (up 11 places to 26th) and Shubman Gill (up 10 places to 54th) have also gained after some fine performances in the match. IANS

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