Karachi
Pakistan’s Babar Azam has become the only batter to be listed in the top five of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) batting rankings in all formats — Test, one-day international (ODI), and Twenty20 international (T20I).
In a post on Twitter, the ICC highlighted and lauded 25-year-old Azam for putting another feather to his cap and making Pakistan proud.
“Babar Azam – the only batsman in the top five of the ICC Batting Rankings in all three formats,” the global cricket body wrote on Twitter.
The top batter is currently part of the Pakistani cricket team playing against England in a Test series. He has a fine career Test average of 45.12 from 26 matches.
Babar’s five Test hundreds have all come since the start of 2018, during which time he has scored 1,375 runs in 15 matches at a hugely impressive average of 65.47.
The current captain of Pakistan’s ODI team, Babar is the top cricketer in the global T20I batting rankings, third in the one-day standings, and fifth in the Test list.
The New Zealander leads Babar by 14 points, with Australia’s third-ranked Marcus Labuschange another 15 points ahead. If Babar produces a strong performance in the final two Test innings on the current England tour, he can potentially achieve his career-high ranking in his young Test career, which is just 28 Tests old.
The batting table is headed by Australia’s Steve Smith with India’s Virat Kohli in second place. Joe Root, who makes the ‘fab-five’ along with Smith, Kohli, Williamson and Babar, is ranked ninth.
Babar is the only batsman in the ICC player rankings to feature inside the top-five, which is a hallmark of a champion and highly-talented batsman.
Babar occupies third place in the ODIs, just behind India’s duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and ahead of fourth-ranked Ross Taylor of New Zealand and Faf du Plessis of South Africa. Williamson is ranked eighth, Root ninth and Smith 21st.
In the T20Is, Babar sits on top of the tree, with Lokesh Sharma (India), Aaron Finch (Australia), Colin Munro (New Zealand) and Glenn Maxwell (Australia) to follow. Kohli is 10th, Williamson 16th, Root 34th and Smith 52nd.
Following the latest ICC update, Abid Ali has broken into the top-50 for the first time in his career by claiming 49th position, while Mohammad Rizwan has moved up to 75th spot. Both the batsmen scored half-centuries in the rain-marred second Test.
In the bowling table, Mohammad Abbas has continued to slowly by surely move up the charts. After his two for 28, he has gained two spots and is now ranked eighth. A few more wickets in the third Test will help Abbas to move ahead of Australia’s seventh-ranked Mitchell Starc, who is leading by 12 points.
The bowlers’ list is headed by Australia’s Pat Cummins, followed by Stuart Broad of England and New Zealand’s Neil Wagner.
In the all-rounders’ list, Yasir Shah is the highest-ranked Pakistan player in 19th position.
Ben Stokes of England, Jason Holder of the West Indies and Ravindra Jadeja of India occupy the top-three spots.—APP
