Pakistan players make giant strides in ICC Test rankings

Pakistan players have made giant strides in ICC’s latest Test rankings following Men in Green’s 2-0 sweep over South Africa.

Right-arm pacer Hasan Ali’s 10-wicket match haul that earned him the Player of the Match award, has lifted him a huge 21 places to 32nd position. With two other fast bowlers – Mohammad Abbas in 12th place and Shaheen Afridi on 30th (after gaining four places), their fast-bowling unit is arguably the strongest since 2007, when Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul were all ranked in the top 20.

Among their batsmen, player of the series Mohammad Rizwan has attained a career-best 16th place after scores of 26 and 115 helped him make a leap of 19 places in the list.

Babar Azam has moved ahead of India’s premier Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara while Faheem Ashraf and Fawad Alam too have continued their ascent.

Faheem had scores of 78 not out and 29 in the second Test, which lifted him from 66th to 47th position while Fawad has gained four places to reach 74th position after aggregating 57 runs in the two innings.

South Africa’s Aiden Markram has advanced from 23rd to 14th position after scoring 32 and 44 not out while Temba Bavuma is in 49th position from 61st with 108 and 61 in his two innings. Anrich Nortje (up five places to 33rd) and George Linde (up 36 places to 74) have moved up among bowlers.