Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Australian batter Travis Head are in the race to become the number one Test batter in the world.
After the latest update issued by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday, Head, who jumped two spots, is in second place with 874 points. He is only nine points behind New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, who is in first place with 883.
Meanwhile, Azam is also not far behind, after he jumped three spots to third in the list, with 862 points.
“Australia star Travis Head is the newest challenger to the No.1 Test batter ranking after the in-form left-hander rose to a career-high second place on the latest ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings,” the ICC said in a press release.
“Head jumps two places and up to second behind New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson on the back of his tremendous Ashes series against England that has already netted the 29-year-old a total of 266 runs at an average of 44.33.
“In the most recent Test of that series in Headingley, Head contributed scores of 39 and 77 and was a major reason why the visitors went close to recording a third consecutive Ashes victory.
“Head's rise up the batter charts has seen yet another re-shuffle at the top of the batting rankings, with Pakistan captain Babar Azam jumping three places to third and fellow Australians Steve Smith (fourth) and Marnus Labuschagne (fifth) and England's Joe Root (sixth) all dropping one spot in what is an enthralling race for top billing.”
Head will look to clinch the top spot during the remaining two matches of the ongoing Ashes cricket series. Meanwhile, Azam will look to do the same during the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka this month.
It must be noted that Azam is also the number one ODI player in the world at the moment. Meanwhile, he holds the third spot in the T20I rankings.
Azam is the only player in the world right now who is in the top three in all the formats. He achieved this feat in October last year as well.
- Babar Azam