ICC Test Rankings: Joe Root Extends Lead as Top Batter, Babar Azam Drops Out of Top 10

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England's Joe Root extended the lead as top batter is Test cricket, while Pakistan's Babar Azam dropped out of the top 10 in the ICC Test rankings revealed on Wednesday (September 4)

"Joe Root's dream run with the bat has helped the England batter to an even bigger lead in the ICC Test Batter Rankings," ICC stated in a statement. Consecutive tons for Root in the Lord's Test led him to extend his lead atop the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings.

Root (922 rating points), who scored his 34th Test century last week against Sri Lanka, now leads the chart by 63 points over New Zealand's Kane Williamson. Babar, who had a few weeks to forget, struggled to pile on runs against Bangladesh.

Even after his stupendous performance against Sri Lanka in the second Test, Root was overshadowed by Gus Atkinson, whose Player of the Match efforts with bat and ball led to dramatic jumps across all Ranking disciplines.

After becoming just the third player in Men's Test history to score a century and claim a five-wicket haul at the hallowed venue, Atkinson moved up 48 spots, into the top 20 for All-Rounders, and into the top 30 for bowlers.

Even after conceding defeat two defeats in the three-match series against England, there were positive moves for a number of Sri Lanka players in the latest update in the rankings.

Half-centuries for Kamindu Mendis moved him up 11 spots and into 25th (635), while an eight-wicket performance from Asitha Fernando propelled the seamer into the top ten for the first time (8th, 734).

Over in Pakistan, Bangladesh's white-wash saw several Tigers make gains. Rescuing Bangladesh's first innings, at one stage in peril at 26/6, Litton Das's 138 helped the team to a first innings 262, and him to a 12-place push to 15th on the batting rankings.

His partner in the seventh-wicket partnership of 165, Mehedy Hasan Miraz, moved up to 75th place with the bat, and his figures of 5-61 in Pakistan's first innings pushed him up to 7th in the all-rounders list.

On the bowling side, Hasan Mahmud and Nahid Rana moved to career-best rankings. With just 64 runs in four innings against Bangladesh, Pakistan's star batter Babar dropped to 12th place with 712 points.

Babar's compatriot Mohammad Rizwan remained in the 10th position with 720 points after an unbeaten 171 in the first Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi last month. The performance in the first Test also saw Shaheen Afridi drop out of the top 10.

India's Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal remained in the top 10 for Test batters alongside New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell, England's Harry Book and Australian duo of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.

In the bowlers ranking, India's Ravichandran Ashwin remained the leader with compatriot Jasprit Bumrah also retaining his position in the top 10, which also features Australian trio Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.