• By Namrata Vijay
  • Sat, 31 Aug 2024 05:21 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND
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PAK vs BAN, 2nd Test: Pakistan's Babar Azam slipped in the latest ICC Test batter's rankings earlier this week and then he once again failed to fire with the bat during the first innings of the second Test match against Bangladesh. On Saturday, Babar scored just 31 runs off 77 balls and was then dismissed by spinner Shakib-al-Hasan. It was the 15th time that Babar got out without scoring a half-century in the longest format and is thus under immense pressure.

He began his innings patiently but failed to convert his start into a big score. The Shan Masood-led side bounced back after the early dismissal of Abdullah Shafique, as that's when skipper Shan Masood and Saim Ayub stitched a stable partnership of 122 runs. Babar Azam came into bat after Masood got out scoring 57 runs and was aiming to continue the partnership that those two batters had set. But luck didn't work in his favour as Babar got dismissed after the team had added 72 more runs.

The former Pakistan skipper also slipped in the latest ICC Test batters rankings. He went from the third to the ninth position due to his inconsistent performances in the longest format. He is currently lying at the ninth position in the ICC Test batters rankings and is behind his fellow teammate Mohammad Rizwan, who jumped to seven positions.

Babar, who couldn't perform well in the series opener against Bangladesh at Homesoil, hasn't scored a hundred since the 2022 Boxing Day Test match in Karachi. He also hasn't smashed a fifty, even though he had played in a Test series against both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

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Babar has been hugely criticized both by his fans and former cricketers across all formats but according to Mohsin Naqvi, who is the PCB chairman they don't have enough talented players who could replace or compete with the national players.

"Babar drops a whopping six places to fall from equal third to ninth following a rare failure in the first innings of Pakistan's Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, with teammate Mohammad Rizwan gaining seven spots and achieving a new career-high rating by moving inside the top 10 at equal 10th following his century in the same match," a statement released by the ICC said.