DUBAI: Pakistan batter Babar Azam faced a significant downfall as he crashed out of the top ten in the latest update of the ICC Test Batting Rankings on Wednesday.
Bangladesh outclassed Pakistan by six wickets in the second Test match to complete the clean sweep and win their first-ever series against the Green Shirts. The touring side had won the first Test thumpingly by 10 wickets.
The humiliating series loss resulted in the Pakistan cricket team falling to their lowest ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings since 1965 as they slipped to eighth.
Moreover, Pakistan’s players also witnessed a significant decline in their individual ICC Test rankings.
Babar Azam, who had a forgettable home series against Bangladesh, scored 64 runs in four innings and dropped three places to 12th in the ICC Test Batting Rankings.
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Mohammad Rizwan is the highest-ranked Pakistan batter as he held on to his tenth position, courtesy of his 294 runs in the series against Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Salman Ali Agha gained nine places to reach 31st and skipper Shan Masood rose four places to 63rd.
On the other hand, vice-captain Saud Shakeel dropped seven places to 20th, while opening batter Abdullah Shafique slipped from 34th to 42nd position.
Pakistan’s pace bowler Shaheen Afridi also dropped out of the top ten as he slipped one place from 10th to 11th with 709 rating points in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings.
Pace sensation Naseem Shah also lost two spots to 35th, while mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed dropped three places to 49th.
Meanwhile, Khurram Shahzad, who was the second-highest wicket-taker in the series against Bangladesh, made a big leap of 35 spots to reach 60th.