Rizwan climbs to top 10 in ICC Test rankings, Babar Azam suffers major decline

Harry Brook of England has climbed to fourth place in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings following his strong performances, scoring 56 and 32 in the first match of the ICC World Test Championship series against Sri Lanka in Manchester. This elevation puts him just one position shy of his career-best third place, achieved after his century against the West Indies last month at Trent Bridge.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan has entered the top 10 for the first time, courtesy of his scores of 171 not out and 51. Whereas, Babar Azam has slipped down six places to ninth spot after scoring 0 and 22 in the aforementioned Test against Bangladesh. Saud Shakeel has also moved up one place to 13th spot after his century in the first innings against Bangladesh.

Mushfiqur Rahim of Bangladesh reached a career-best-equalling 17th position after his pivotal innings of 191 in the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, advancing seven places.

In other notable movements, Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal rose four places to 23rd, Kamindu Mendis climbed eight spots to 36th, Bangladesh's Liton Das moved up two positions to 27th, and England's Jamie Smith surged 22 places to 42nd in the Test batting rankings.

On the bowling front, England's Chris Woakes ascended four places to 16th after claiming three wickets in each innings against Sri Lanka. Asitha Fernando of Sri Lanka also moved up significantly, climbing 10 places to 17th following his six-wicket haul in the same match. Pakistan's Naseem Shah, England's Gus Atkinson, and Matthew Potts also made notable gains in the bowling rankings.

In the Men’s T20I Player Rankings, Nicholas Pooran of the West Indies entered the top 10 after impactful performances against South Africa, while South Africa's Reeza Hendricks moved up to 13th position. Akeal Hosein of the West Indies rose to second place in the bowling rankings after taking four wickets across three matches, with Gudakesh Motie also climbing impressively. Romario Shepherd made strides to reach 31st position.