Younus back among top 10 Test batsmen

Pakistani moves up in ICC rankings after 177-run knock against SL.

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s Younus Khan stormed back into the International Cricket Council Top 10 Batsmen Rankings on Monday, while Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara regained top spot after playing big knocks in the Test opener against Pakistan in Galle.

Younus scored 177 runs in the first innings which moved him up one rank to the 10th spot.

It was Younus’s 24th Test century, which levelled him with Muhammad Yousuf in Pakistan’s Test records, with only Inzamamul Haq ahead of him with 25. He also took over Yousuf in the run-chart to become the third highest scorer in the Test format with 7,589 runs, after Javed Miandad (8,832) and Inzamam (8,829).

Meanwhile, Misbahul Haq’s downslide continues as he dropped down a spot to eight despite scores of 31 and 28.

Among other Pakistani batsmen, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq now stand at 23rd and 25th spots, respectively.

The Galle Test helped Sangakkara regain the top Test spot from South African AB de Villiers after a mammoth innings of 221.

Angelo Mathews also moved up a spot to fifth.

In the bowlers ranking, Saeed Ajmal slipped to eighth, losing his fifth spot despite claiming a five-wicket haul, while Abdur Rehman and Junaid Khan are at 16th and 17th in the rankings respectively.

Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Rangana Herath moved two places above to sixth after picking up the man-of-the-match award against Pakistan for claiming nine wickets.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2014.

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