Australia’s batting all-rounder, Marnus Labuschagne and Pakistan’s batsman, Babar Azam have risen to the No. 1 batting spot in the Test and Twenty/20 International rankings respectively after impressive performances in their most recent engagements.
It’s the first time at the top for Labuschagne, while for Azam, it’s a return to the position he had slipped from last week.
Labuschagne has had a purple patch in Test cricket since coming on as a concussion substitute for Steven Smith in the Ashes Test at Lord’s in 2019 and currently averages 62.14 from 20 Tests.
In the ongoing Ashes series against England in Australia, Labuschagne has scored 74 and 0 not out in the 1st Test in Brisbane, and 103 and 51 in the 2nd Test in Adelaide.
Labuschagne started the series at No. 4 on the batting chart. The runs he has scored in the Ashes Series have given him a career-high 912 rating points, taking him past Joe Root, who has dropped to second spot despite being in good form with scores of 0, 89, 62 and 24 in the series so far. Steven Smith, Kane Williamson and Rohit Sharma complete the top five batsmen.
Babar Azam slipped from number 1 among Twenty/20 International batsmen after scoring 0 and 7 in the first two Twenty/20 Internationals against the West Indies in Pakistan, but a 79 off 53 balls in the final match took him back to the top, tied on points with Dawid Malan of England. Just below them is Pakistan’s opening batsman, Mohammad Rizwan, whose spectacular run through the year was capped by a match-winning 45-ball 87 in that final game against the West Indies in Karachi.
