Babar Azam Joe Root
Reflexes
- Joe Root at number one in ICC Test Batsmen’s Rankings
- Babar Azam at number three in ICC Test Batsmen’s Rankings
- Mahela Jayawardene told Babar future No.1 test batsman
Babar Azam vs. Joe Root: England batsman Joe Root has long held the number one position in the ICC Test Batters rankings. He is in tremendous form and there is no other hitter to challenge him at the moment. Steve Smith and Virat Kohli once also had a strong hold on the number one spot in the same way, but they too had to pull out. Smith and Kohli were eliminated by Root. Now the big question is who will force the English batsman to vacate this position? The same question was asked of former Sri Lankan captain and heavy hitter Mahela Jayawardene. The name of the Jayawardene batsman selected for this job is Babar Azam.
Babar can remove Root from the number 1 position: Jayawardene
He said on the latest episode of ICC Review: “I would say that Babar Azam has a chance. “He is consistent across all three formats, which is also reflected in his ranking. He is a naturally gifted player who plays in all conditions and adapts instantly.”
Jayawardene further said that the ranking depends on who plays how much cricket. “It depends on the number of games, who plays, when and how it is directly related to ranking, but Babar can become the number one test batsman.”
He will have to play more games to become the number 1 test batsman
Joe Root has scored 927 runs in 9 tests so far in 2022 at an average of 61.80 which includes 5 centuries. On the other hand, Babar Azam has scored 271 runs in 2 tests so far this year at an average of 67.75, which includes a century. Jayawardene was actually trying to make up the difference by referring to the number of matches. Babar currently sits third in the test standings for batsmen, but Root is 44 points ahead of him in terms of points. Root has 923 points while the Pakistan captain has 879 points. This is a big gap, to finish Babar will have to play more test matches.
Babar and Root will meet in a three-match test series in December this year. This series will be played in Pakistan. This battle between these two batsmen is sure to be very interesting.
