Star Pakistan batter Babar Azam has suffered a massive dip in the ICC Test rankings following his disappointing show in the first Test against Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. He has fallen down six positions to the 9th spot. Babar scored a two-ball duck in the first innings and then a 22-run in the second innings. He felt completely out of touch in the match and failed to provide strength to his team in the middle order which was also a major reason behind the Pakistan team's embarrassing 10-wicket loss against their Asian rivals. His fall has given a push to Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal who have not played Test since the England series in the early phase of this year. In fact, Virat did not even feature in that series. Both of them are currently ranked above Babar.
Mohammed Rizwan claims career-best ranking
Whereas Babar Azam has suffered a big blow, is fellow teammate Mohammed Rizwan has achieved his career-best ICC Test ranking. For the first time ever, he has entered the top ten in red-ball cricket. He is currently at the 10th spot along with Australia's Usman Khawaja. Where the Aussie has jumped one spot, the Pakistan wicket-keeper batter has taken a leap of 7 spots to get to this position. Rizwan scored 171 not out and 51 in the first Test. Saud Shakeel who hit 141 in the first innings for Pakistan has got up one position to the 13th spot.
Meanwhile, the hero of Bangladesh's historic victory, Mushfiqur Rahim has also reached career-best positions in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings after his fine performances. He smashed a match-winning 191 in the first Test to ensure his team's first Test triumph against Pakistan. He has also advanced 7 positions to reach the career-best 17th spot.
England's rising star Harry Book has also jumped three spots to get to the fourth position in the Test rankings. He scored 56 and 32 in the first match of England's series against Sri Lanka in Manchester. Currently, Joe Root sits at the top of the table followed by Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell.
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