ICC test batting rankings: Babar Azam falls out of top 10, Joe Root widens gap with Williamson

Babar Azam scored only 64 runs in the two tests against Bangladesh.

Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam has dropped out of the top 10 in the latest ICC test batting rankings following his poor show in the recently concluded test series against Bangladesh.

Bangladesh registered a historic first-ever test series win over Pakistan with twin victories in Rawalpindi. Among the several Pakistani players who were a letdown for the management and the fans, the biggest name was Babar, who managed to score only 64 runs in four innings with a highest score of 31.

This disastrous show against Bangladesh saw Babar move down three spots to number 12 in the updated ICC test batting rankings.

Joe Root extends his lead at the top

Former England captain Joe Root, who was already at the top of the batting rankings, has stretched himself further away from the second-placed Kane Williamson after his twin century in the second test against Sri Lanka at the Lord’s, which saw him go past Alastair Cook’s record of most test tons for England. Root now has 922 rating points, which is 63 more than Williamson.

With two centuries in the Lord’s test, Root first equalled Cook’s tally of 33 test hundreds and then surpassed it, leading the former opener to hail Root as a “genius” and “England’s greatest.”

Cook said on commentary for the BBC’s Test Match Special, “He is quite simply England’s greatest, and it’s absolutely right that he should have this record, on his own. Take it in, Joe. We are watching a genius.”

“I don’t think there’s a batsman that I can remember watching play [who shares] the sense of inevitability about scoring runs that Joe Root gives off.”

Gus Atkinson, who scored a century and took seven wickets at Lord’s, is now in the top 20 men’s test all-rounders.

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