On Wednesday, July 27, Babar Azam became the only batter in the top 3 of the ICC Rankings across all game forms. After his heroics in the opening Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, the Pakistani captain climbed to No. 3 in the ICC Rankings for Test hitters, passing former Australia captain Steve Smith. With his best-ever career rating of 874 in Test cricket, Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam is ranked No. 1 in ODIs, T20Is, and Tests and No. 3 overall. Joe Root of England is far ahead of the competition in first place with 923 rating points, followed by Marnus Labuschagne of Australia in second place with 885 points.
In that Test, Babar contributed 119 runs to a team total of 218 runs, or about 55% of Pakistan’s first-innings runs, helping the team stay within striking distance of Sri Lanka’s 222-run first-innings total. As Pakistan finished a record chase of 343 to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series, Babar contributed fifty of his own.
Babar Azam has frequently stated that he aspires to be the top batter across all game formats. Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma are the only two Indian batters in the top 10 of the ICC Test Rankings. While the Indian skipper is ranked ninth, Pant is ranked fifth. The 12th slot in the batting rankings belongs to Virat Kohli, who is now through an extended lean period.
Jasprit Bumrah was overtaken by fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi to gain third place in the ICC Test Rankings for Bowlers. Afridi had four wickets in the opening game of the Galle Test but was unable to play in the ongoing second Test because of an injury.
In the rescheduled fifth Test against England, Jasprit Bumrah captained India and excelled with five wickets across two innings. Still, it was insufficient to stop England from staging an incredible run-chase for a 7-wicket victory.
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