Babar Azam is the only batter in the top three of the ICC rankings in every international cricket format right now, and Abdullah Shafique has reached heights that had previously only been attained by two of the best batters in Test cricket.
In the most recent ICC rankings, Babar—the top batter in ODIs and T20Is—moved up to No. 3 in Tests for the first time in his 41-match career. After recording scores of 119 and 55 in the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle, he has surpassed Steven Smith. Rishabh Pant is ranked fifth, while Joe Root and Marnus Labuschagne are still the top two players on the board.
Ricky Ponting, a former captain of Australia, recently hailed the leadership of the Pakistan cricket team. "I saw him up close and personal a couple of years ago out here in a Test series against Australia and I said it then, I thought the sky was the limit for this guy as far as Test match batting (was concerned) and, if anything, he's probably got better and better in the last couple of years," Ponting said on the ICC Review. Now, Babar has achieved yet another milestone.