ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s T20 captain Babar Azam dropped a whopping six places on the global Test batter rankings after a string of dismal performances in the longest format of the game, the International Cricket Council (ICC) reported on Wednesday.
Azam failed to impress during last week’s Test match against Bangladesh, managing scores of 0 and 22 only. Pakistan lost the Rawalpindi Test against the visitors, who beat the hosts for the first time in a Test contest by a thumping 10 wickets.
The star batter, who was previously ranked at number three in the men’s Test rankings, slipped to number nine following his lackluster performance.
“Babar drops a whopping six places to fall from equal third to ninth following a rare failure in the first innings of Pakistan’s Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi,” the ICC said in a report.
There was some good news for Pakistan, though, as Azam’s teammate Muhammad Rizwan gained seven spots to achieve a new career-high rating.
Rizwan, who scored an unbeaten 171 runs in the first innings and a 51-run knock in the second of the Rawalpindi Test, rose to claim the number 10 spot on the ICC Test batter’s rankings.
“It means Babar is just six rating points ahead of Rizwan on the updated rankings for Test batters, while Pakistan vice-captain Saud Shakeel is not far behind after he gained one place to move to 13th overall on the back of his own century against Bangladesh,” the ICC said.
The second Test match between the two sides will be played again at Rawalpindi from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3. Bangladesh are 1-0 up in the two-match series.
