Pakistan Test captain Babar Azam on Wednesday ended his near two-year wait for a place in the top 10 of the ICC Test batters’ rankings. Babar has been rewarded for his recent performance in the second Test against the West Indies in Port of Spain.ย
The 31-year-old continued his rise in the Test rankings for batters. He has jumped five places from 15th to reach the 10th spot after scoring 88 and an unbeaten 24 in the second Test, which the Men in Green won by eight wickets, ending their over three-year wait for an away Test match win. While Babar could not end his near four-year wait for a Test hundred, he ended his near two-year wait in the ICC standings.
He has returned to the top 10 of the Test batters’ rankings after a gap of close to two years. The last time he was ranked inside the top 10 was in September 2024. Babar jumped past England’s Ben Duckett, India’s Rishabh Pant, Australia’s Alex Carey, New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell and Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal. Babar has 716 ratings to his name and trails Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Abdullah Shafique and Sajid Khan also rise
There were more beneficiaries from Pakistan in the ICC rankings as centurion in Port of Spain, Abdullah Shafique moved 25 places to reach 32nd in the batters’ rankings, while spinner Sajid Khan also made strides in the recent rankings update. Sajid, who picked four wickets apiece in the two innings, has scaled five places to reach 30th in the bowlers’ standings.ย
There were some changes in the ODI rankings too, as Rahmanullah Gurbaz gained three spots to move to 11th after hitting 71 against Ireland in the third ODI. Hashmatullah Shahidi jumped four places to reach 50th, while Irish all-rounder Curtis Campher re-entered the ODI batters’ list and reached joint 59th place after he returned to the ODI arena.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan has also been rewarded for his stellar performances in the second and third ODI against the Irish side. He picked a six-wicket haul in the second ODI and displayed a stellar all-round performance in the third one as he moved further clear at the top of the rankings for ODI bowlers.ย
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