Babar Azam, the ace Pakistan batter, has dropped out of the top 10 of the ICC Men’s Test batting rankings in the latest update on September 4, 2024. This came after his poor performance in recent Bangladesh Test series which Pakistan lost 0-2.

Babar Azam scored only 64 runs across four innings in the recently finished two-Test series against Bangladesh. With this performance, Babar fell out of the top ten in Test batting rankings for the first time since December 2019, when he was ranked thirteenth.

Mohammad Rizwan is Pakistan's only batter in the top ten, sitting at number 10, while Babar Azam has dropped to 12th place.

Babar's problems in Test cricket have been clear for some time. He hasn't made a century since December 2022, and he hasn't hit a single fifty in his last 16 innings of red-ball cricket.

England's Joe Root continues to top the batting standings. Root now has 922 ranking points, 63 more than second-placed Kane Williamson. Root has the possibility to shatter his own personal best mark, which is only one point away from the 923 rating he achieved in July 2022.

Root has been in outstanding form against Sri Lanka. With two hundreds in each innings of the Lord's Test, Root surpassed Alastair Cook to set a new England record for the most centuries in Tests. Root increased his tally to 34.

The top five includes Daryl Mitchell of New Zealand, Steve Smith of Australia, and Harry Brook of England.

Rohit Sharma remains the top-ranked Indian Test batter at No. 6, followed by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli at Nos. 7 and 8. All three Indian hitters will have the opportunity to improve their ratings when they face Bangladesh in a two-Test series at home beginning September 19.

Litton Das' 138 saved Bangladesh's first innings, which was in danger at 26/6, and helped the team reach a first innings total of 262, propelling him up 12 places to 15th in the batting rankings.

(ICC inputs)