PAK v AUS 2018: Mohammad Abbas climbs to no.3 in ICC Test rankings

Abbas picked up 17 wickets in the 2-match Test series.

Abbas stood out for Pakistan | Getty

Immensely skillful Mohammad Abbas, who followed his brilliance in Dubai with excellence at Abu Dhabi, picked up 5/33 and 5/62 to help Pakistan register a highly dominating win by a massive margin of 373 runs in the second Test against Australia at Abu Dhabi, has been rewarded with a huge jump in the latest update in ICC Test bowlers' rankings. 

Abbas also recorded only the 15th 10 wicket-haul by a Pakistan bowler and subsequently became the no.3 ranked Test bowler in the rankings released by the game's world governing body. 

Having, now, picked up 59 wickets from just 10 Tests, Abbas jumped all the way from No.14 to No.3 with career-best rating points of 829 and is behind only the might of James Anderson and Kagiso Rabada, with 899 and 882 points respectively. 

On the other hand, finger-spinner Bilal Asif, risen 17 spots from his previous 52nd, for his nine wickets in the two Test matches. 

Among the Pakistan batsmen, Fakhar Zaman, who scored 94 and 66 on debut at Abu Dhabi, joined the ranking at 68th position, whereas, with two good outings in the series, skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed rose 17 places to No.25. 

While Asad Shafiq, with 0 and 44, slid three spots to 24th, Azhar Ali (64) and Babar Azam (99), with half-centuries in the second Test, earned a held-up at the previous 15th position and nine spots to 76th, respectively. 

For Australia, understandably, there weren't too many movers but good performances from Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch were rewarded. 

Khawaja, who scored an outstanding match-saving hundred at Dubai, reached No.10 for his magnificent exploits but came down one spot after the Abu Dhabi Test. 

Meanwhile, Aaron Finch, who followed up his 62 and 49 in the first Test with 39 and 31, rose 15 spots to 59th position. 

(Inputs from ICC)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 21 Oct, 2018

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