Saud Shakeel rises, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan suffer decline in ICC Test Rankings

DUBAI: Pakistan batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan suffered a steep decline, while Saud Shakeel made significant gains in the latest ICC Test Batting Rankings released on Wednesday.

It’s worth noting that Pakistan recently suffered a two-wicket defeat in a thrilling first Test of the two-match series against South Africa.

Saud Shakeel fell early in the first innings, scoring 14 off 6, however, in the second innings he played a gutsy knock of 84 runs against a fiery pace attack of South Africa.

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Consequently, he made a three-place jump in the ICC Test Batting Rankings to claim sixth position with 764 rating points.

Meanwhile, Babar Azam, despite breaking his half-century drought, dropped two places to 17th spot with 669 points.

He got out for four in the first innings but in the second innings, he scored a crucial 50 runs from 85 balls, laced with nine boundaries.

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On the other hand, Mohammad Rizwan continued his below-par run in red-ball cricket, scoring 30 runs across two innings in the first Test against South Africa. As a result, he dropped two places to 21st.

Pakistan’s spinner Noman Ali and pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who missed the first Test against South Africa, dropped one spot to ninth and eighteenth place respectively in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings.

Meanwhile, Naseem Shah gained six places to reach the 33rd spot after he picked four wickets across two innings against South Africa.

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