DUBAI: Pakistan cricketers have seen a significant rise in ratings, with key players like Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan making notable improvements in the latest ICC Test rankings. Babar Azam, Pakistan’s white-ball captain, has moved up in the Test rankings. Despite constant struggles in the red-ball format, Babar has climbed one position to 11th and now holds 712 rating points. Meanwhile, batsman Mohammad Rizwan returned to the top 10, securing the 9th position with 720 rating points. However, not all the news is positive for Pakistan’s batsmen. Saud Shakeel slipped to 21st place with 661 rating points, while all-rounder Salman Ali Agha slipped to 32nd place with 606 points. On the international front, Sri Lankan cricketers made significant progress after their surprise Test win over England at The Oval. Dhananjaya de Silva hit a career high to move up to 13th in the Test batting charts after his impressive 69 in the first innings. Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka also achieved career bests, with Mendis climbing to 19th after a remarkable half-century and Nissanka making a remarkable jump to 39th after innings of 64 and 127*. England’s Joe Root retains the No. 1 position despite a dip in form in the final Test in Sri Lanka, where his rating dropped from 922 to 899. That made way for New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell, along with Australia’s Steve Smith. , close in the first place. In the bowling rankings, Shaheen Afridi is back in the top 10, now ranked 10th with 709 rating points. Conversely, Hasan Ali slipped to 34th place with 540 rating points and Naseem Shah slipped to 37th place with 531 points. Sri Lankan bowlers Lahiru Kumara and Milan Rathnayake also saw improvements, moving to 32nd and 84th respectively. England’s Olly Stone is ranked 74th after his three wickets in the first innings against Sri Lanka. India’s Ravichandran Ashwin continues to lead the Test bowling charts with 870 rating points, closely followed by Australia’s Josh Hazlewood and Jasprit Bumrah, who share second place with 847 points.
