ISLAMABAD
\nPakistan captain Babar Azam has attained a career-best second position in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) men\u2019s Test player rankings after notching two half-centuries in the final Test of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series against England in Karachi.
\nBabar\u2019s knocks of 78 and 54 have helped him overtake Steve Smith, who managed 36 and six in a low-scoring game between Australia and South Africa in Brisbane. Babar, who is ranked first in ODIs and fourth in T20Is, trails Australia\u2019s Marnus Labuschagne by 61 points in the Test rankings.
\nAustralian batter Travis Head, whose first innings score of 92 was the highest in the Brisbane Test, has gained three slots to reach a career-best fourth position as he crosses the 800-rating point mark for the first time in his career. His previous best was fifth position in January this year.
\nIn the latest weekly update that also takes into account performances in the first Test of the WTC series between Bangladesh and India in Chittagong, Cheteshwar Pujara\u2019s knocks of 90 and 102 not out have lifted him 10 positions to 16th while Shreyas Iyer (up 11 places to 26th) and Shubman Gill (up 10 places to 54th) have also gained after some fine performances in the match.
\nEngland captain Ben Stokes (up places to 23rd), South Africa\u2019s Temba Bavuma (up eight places to 24th) and Bangladesh\u2019s Shakib Al Hasan (up four places to 37th) are some others to move up the batters list. England\u2019s Harry Brook is in the top 50 for the first time after scoring centuries in all three Tests in Pakistan.
\nIn the bowlers rankings, South African quick Kagiso Rabada has gained four spots to reach third position after grabbing four wickets in each innings at the Gabba. Rabada, a formerly top-ranked bowler, was third in August this year before slipping down the table.
\nIndia spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel have made rapid progress after helping win the Chittagong Test. Yadav\u2019s man-of-the-match effort of 8-113 has lifted him 19 places to 49th while Patel\u2019s five scalps in the match see him jump 10 places to a career-best 18th position.
\nOther bowlers to move up the list include Marcon Jansen, Jack Leach, Mark Wood, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Scott Boland and Mohammad Siraj.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Pakistan captain Babar Azam has attained a career-best second position in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) men\u2019s Test player rankings after notching two half-centuries in the final Test of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series against England in Karachi. Babar\u2019s knocks of 78 and 54 have helped him overtake Steve Smith, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-302982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n