An injury had forced Stokes out of the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka at home as well as the first Test of the Pakistan tour. Ollie Pope had stepped in as captain, leading England to a 2-1 win in the former and an innings win at Multan.

Stokes returned for the last two Tests in Pakistan, who turned things around in remarkable manner to take the series 2-1. Stokes himself made 1, 37, 12, and 3 – 53 runs at 13.25 – and conceded 33 runs without taking a wicket.

After the first Test, Stokes had dropped four places on the Test batting rankings, from 30th to 34th. After the second, he slid further, to 41st –the first time since December 30, 2015 that Stokes is not in the top 40 of the ICC Test batting rankings. In between, Stokes had been at 40th twice, on October 30, 2016, and on February 3, 2019.

Stokes also dropped from 46th to 51st on the bowling rankings. Despite bowling occasionally these days, this is the first time he fell outside the top 50 since August 2, 2015. During this period, his lowest rank had been 49th – on February 19, February 27, and July 30, 2024.

Read more: Rohit Sharma slips to worst ICC Test ranking in six years

Since the all-rounder ranking depends on the batting and bowling rankings, Stokes’s ranking was impacted there as well. He dropped from 9th to 12th, the first time he was outside the top 10 since December 30, 2015.

Stokes had held the top all-rounder’s spot for some time in 2021, and used to be a constant in the top five for years. In batting, he had risen to third place (on July 20, 2020), while his best bowling rank has been 19th (July 31, 2017).

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