Babar Azam drops nine spots to from third in the latest ICC Test rankings

ByDebayan Sinha, SportsCafe Editor

09/04/2024

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Babar Azam’s worry with the bat and ICC rankings persist as he has dropped from the third to the twelfth position. The 29-year-old has been in a slump in Test cricket managing just 317 runs from 15 innings since 2023 with a modest average of 21.1 contributing to his significant fall in the rankings.

Azam has fallen out of the top 10 in the batting rankings for the first time since December 2019. He has struggled to reach a fifty in his last 16 innings of Test cricket as his downfall continued in the recently concluded Pakistan-Bangladesh series.

Before Bangladesh toured Pakistan, Babar was ranked third in the Test batting charts. However, his scores of 0, 22, 31, and 11 across the four innings of the two-Test series led to his downfall from the top 10. He now sits at twelfth place and will need to wait until the three-match series against England at home in October to restore his position. With Babar's exit from the top 10, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is now the sole Pakistan player remaining in the top 10.

On the contrary, Joe Root has strengthened his position at the top of the Test batting rankings and is nearing his highest-ever Test rating. After scoring twin centuries at Lord's during the second Test against Sri Lanka, the former England captain has amassed 922 rating points, just one point shy of his career peak. Root currently leads the Test run-scoring charts for the year.

Ohhh my mighty babar!!