Babar, Shaheen slip in ICC rankings

The former captain drops three places to 15th.

Pakistan's key players Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan have seen declines in the latest ICC Test rankings, while England's Joe Root continues to rise, solidifying his status as one of the greatest Test batters of all time.

Root's career-best performance, which included a monumental double-century (262 runs) in England's dominant victory over Pakistan in Multan, pushed his rating to 932 points. This new career-high further cements his position at the top of the ICC Men's Test Batter Rankings, surpassing his previous best of 923 rating points. Root is now more than 100 points ahead of his closest competitors, with teammate Harry Brook and New Zealand's Kane Williamson sharing second place. Brook's outstanding triple-century against Pakistan also contributed to his jump of 11 places in the rankings. He and Root broke records with their 454-run partnership for the fourth wicket, contributing to a massive win over Pakistan. Ben Duckett, another England batter, also climbed five places to 14th on the list following his solid knock of 84 runs.

For Pakistan, Agha Salman and captain Shan Masood showed improvement, with Salman jumping 11 spots to 22nd and Masood making an impressive 12-place leap to sit 51st in the Test batter rankings.

In the bowling department, England's Gus Atkinson moved up three places to 23rd, while Jack Leach made a nine-place leap to 28th after a successful series against Pakistan. Joe Root also rose in the all-rounder rankings, securing third place.

Pakistan's Test stars experienced a dip in their rankings, with Babar Azam dropping three places to 15th with 684 rating points, and Mohammad Rizwan slipping 12 places to 19th with 678 points. Abdullah Shafique advanced two places to 39th.

In bowling, Shaheen Afridi slipped out of the top 10, now ranked 14th with 681 points. Hasan Ali and Naseem Shah also saw declines, dropping to 34th and 36th, respectively.