Babar Azam regains career-best Test ranking; becomes the only batsman in top 5 in all formats

Pakistan's stalwart batsman Babar Azam has leapfrogged David Warner in the latest ICC Test Batting Rankings and regained his career-best spot of No.5 courtesy of a gritty knock of 47 runs in the 2nd Test against England.

Babar Azam's fellow teammates Abid Ali (up to 49th), Mohammad Rizwan (up to 75th) have also made good progress in the rankings after their noteworthy exploits with the bat, while Mohammad Abbas climbed up to the 8th position in the Test Bowling Rankings.

Babar Azam had attained the same spot previously in February 2020 after scoring a rampage knock of 143 against Bangladesh. He is now only 14 rating points behind the New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson in the 4th spot.

This news comes a few days after the globally-renowned English Cricket pundit and commentator Nasser Hussain praised the Pakistan batsman, saying that he is a 'phenomenal' player and deserves to feature in the grand cricketing extravaganza, the Indian Premier League (IPL).

It's a shame that Babar Azam isn't in the Fab Four: Nasser Hussain

"It’s the Pakistani players not being in the IPL. The IPL will start soon and Babar Azam won’t be there. He’s a phenomenal player and he should be there,” remarked Nasser Hussain.

As far as English players are concerned, their premier pacers Stuart Broad and James Anderson have also been promoted following an excellent bowling display by the duo in the drawn Test match against Pakistan. Broad has moved up one slot into the second position in the bowlers’ list after a four-wicket haul, while Anderson has climbed to 14th with figures of 3/60 in the first innings of the match.

Zak Crawley has moved to a career-best 81st position after a good-looking innings of 53, while all-rounder Ben Stokes and captain Joe Root have retained their seventh and ninth positions, respectively.

In the ICC World Test Championship points table, England have consolidated their position in the third spot with 279 points while Pakistan is positioned at fifth with 153. The list is led by India with 360 points, with Australia just behind them with 296. The ICC Test Player Rankings as of 18 August 2020 can be viewed here.