Reinstated as Pakistan’s Test captain, Babar moved up five places to tenth after scoring 88 in the first innings in Grenada before finishing the chase unbeaten on 24. He finished the series with 193 runs at 96.50, with two fifties. The rise marked his first return to the top 10 since August 2024.
The last two years marked a lean period with the bat for Babar, who fell out of the top 15 and then the top 20 as a result. Since September 2024, he has scored 712 runs in 20 innings at 39.55 with seven fifties and no hundreds. His last Test ton came way back in December 2022, when he made 161 against New Zealand in Karachi.
Babar, whose highest Test ranking is No.2, achieved in December 2022, first fell out of the top five in July 2023. He started the series against the West Indies as world No.22 but climbed to No.15 after the game in Tarouba, where he made 23 and 58 not out.
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His latest performance came at an important point for Pakistan, who secured their first Test win away from home in more than three years.
The Pakistan captain was not the only batter to make progress. Abdullah Shafique made an even bigger jump after his unbeaten 160 in the first innings. The Pakistan No.3 climbed 25 places to 32nd in the Test batting rankings.
Sajid Khan also moved up the charts after his contribution with the ball. The right-arm spinner rose five places to 30th among Test bowlers and also climbed five places to 32nd in the all-rounders' rankings.
Travis Head remained the top-ranked Test batter, while Jasprit Bumrah retained the top spot among Test bowlers. Ravindra Jadeja continues to lead the Test all-rounder rankings.
Latest ICC Test rankings (as on August 12, 2026)Batting
Position Player Country Points 1 Travis Head Australia 853 2 Harry Brook England 852 3 Joe Root England 840 4 Steve Smith Australia 831 5 Temba Bavuma South Africa 775 6 Kamindu Mendis Sri Lanka 744 7 Shubman Gill India 743 8 Rachin Ravindra New Zealand 740 9 Yashasvi Jaiswal India 733 10 Babar Azam Pakistan 716Bowling
Position Player Country Points 1 Jasprit Bumrah India 870 2 Matt Henry New Zealand 861 3 Mitchell Starc Australia 838 4 Pat Cummins Australia 832 5 Marco Jansen South Africa 825 6 Scott Boland Australia 820 7 Kagiso Rabada South Africa 807 8 Noman Ali Pakistan 800 9 Josh Hazlewood Australia 775 10 Nathan Lyon Australia 753All-rounder
Position Player Country Points 1 Ravindra Jadeja India 446 2 Marco Jansen South Africa 344 3= Mitchell Starc Australia 284 3= Mehidy Hasan Miraz Bangladesh 284 5 Pat Cummins Australia 250 6 Wiaan Mulder South Africa 245 7 Washington Sundar India 244 8 Gus Atkinson England 243 9 Justin Greaves West Indies 225 10 Joe Root England 209Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
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