KARACHI: Pakistan’s star batsman Babar Azam has moved up to a career-high 10th place in the new formats of International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for the world’s best batsmen, it was revealed on Wednesday.
According to a statement issued by International Cricket Council (ICC), the 26-year-old Pakistani star is the third-best batsman in T20I and ODI. Although, he has been placed at number six in the Test format.
On the other hand, Indian skipper Virat Kohli moved one position up to number five in the T20I rankings after scoring two back-to-back half-centuries against England in the ongoing five-match series in Ahmedabad.
His teammate KL Rahul, however, was demoted one place down to a fourth-place, losing his spot to the Pakistani captain. The top two T20I spots have been maintained by English batsman Dawid Malan and Australia skipper Aaron Finch, respectively.
In ODI rankings, Kohli and Rohit Sharma secured the top two spots, while Australian batsmen Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne have grabbed the top three spots in Test rankings.
England spinners Jack Leach and Dominic Bess made notable progress after their five-wicket hauls in Galle. For Sri Lanka, Lahiru Thirimanne’s second innings century helped him progress 12 places to 87th position while left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya (up to six places to 47th) and medium-pace bowler Asitha Fernando (up 11 places to 96th) were the main gainers.
