Babar Azam in top five ICC batting rankings for all formats

Pakistan's Babar Azam has achieved a unique distinction as he is currently the only batsman featuring in top 5 list of all three formats in International Cricket Council's (ICC) batting rankings 

In a post on Twitter, the ICC highlighted and lauded 25-year-old Azam for putting another feather to his cap and making Pakistan proud.

"Babar Azam – the only batsman in the top five of the ICC Batting Rankings in all three formats," the global cricket body wrote on Twitter.

Babar Azam – the only batsman in the top five of the @MRFWorldwide ICC Batting Rankings in all three formats 👏#ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/W2yqLGmEXS

— ICC (@ICC) August 18, 2020

The top batter is currently part of the Pakistani cricket team playing against England in a Test series. He has a fine career Test average of 45.12 from 26 matches.

Azam was back at a career-best fifth position, which he had attained in February 2020. His knock of 47 helped him gain one place while his compatriots Abid Ali (up to 49th) and Mohammad Rizwan (up to 75th) have also attained career-best rankings after knocking up half-centuries.

Azam's five-Test hundreds have all come since the start of 2018, during which time he has scored 1,375 runs in 15 matches at a hugely impressive average of 65.47.

The current captain of Pakistan's ODI team, Azam is the top cricketer in the global T20I batting rankings, third in the one-day standings, and fifth in the Test list.

For England, Zak Crawley has moved to a career-best 81st place after a score of 53, even as all-rounder Ben Stokes and captain Joe Root have retained their seventh and ninth positions, respectively.

Formerly top-ranked fast bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson of England have advanced in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after some fine bowling in the drawn second Test.

Broad has moved up one slot to the second position in the bowlers’ list after a haul of 4/56 while Anderson has moved up two slots to 14th with figures of 3/60, as the pair helped dismiss Pakistan for 236 in their only innings of the match.

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Abbas took 2/28 in England’s score of 110/4 declared, gaining two places to reach eighth position, but is still away from his career-best ranking of third in October 2018.

In the ICC World Test Championship points table, England remain in third position with 279 points while Pakistan are fifth with 153. The list is led by India with 360 points and Australia are second at 296.

Each series of the WTC is worth 120 points, distributed evenly over the number of matches in a series. The points range from 60 for each match of a two-Test series to 24 for each match of a five-Test series.