Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain, has returned to the top five of the ICC Test Batsman rankings after a big rise earlier today.
This puts Babar in 5th place overall, ahead of Travis Head, Rohit Sharma, and Dimuth Karunaratane. Pakistan’s second-innings heroics against Australia on a grueling Karachi surface came to an end with a record-breaking innings of 196.
As recently as last Wednesday, Babar surpassed Virat Kohli, the former Indian captain, when Kohli dropped to the 9th slot, while Babar rose to the 8th spot in the rankings.
With 916 rating points, Marnus Labuschagne of Australia is the top-ranked Test hitter in the world. Joe Root of England and Steve Smith of Australia are the next-highest rated batsmen.
In the current ICC Test batting rankings, below are the top ten:
| Rank | Player | Team | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Marnus Labuschagne | Aus | 916 |
|
2
|
Joe Root | Eng | 879 |
|
3
|
Steve Smith | Aus | 857 |
|
4
|
Kane Williamson | NZ | 844 |
|
5
|
Babar Azam | Pak | 799 |
|
6
|
Dimuth Karunaratne | SL | 781 |
|
7
|
Rohit Sharma | Ind | 754 |
|
8
|
Travis Head | Aus | 744 |
|
9
|
Virat Kohli | Ind | 742 |
|
10
|
Rishabh Pant | Ind | 738 |