Babar Azam has jumped to No.3 in the latest ICC Test Rankings for batters, breaking into the top three despite not playing a Test since January.

His promotion to No.3 came after Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Joe Root all suffered position drops during the ongoing Ashes. Kane Williamson, who himself hasn’t played a Test in three months and is currently out due to injury, occupies the No.1 position. The second spot is held by Travis Head, who jumped two positions after his half-century, and is currently at his career-best rank.

The rest of the top ten stays the same.

Babar will resume Test action against Sri Lanka on Sunday, July 16, and a standout performance could see him climb further in the rankings.

In the bowling rankings, Stuart Broad jumped four places to reach No.6, while Shaheen Afridi, who last played a Test in July 2022, also gaining a spot to reach No.5.

Ollie Robinson fell two positions to No.7, with Nathan Lyon, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja all falling a spot below him. R Ashwin continues to be the No.1 ranked bowler.

There have been no changes to the all-rounders’ list. Here are the rankings after the latest update:

ICC Test rankings: Batters

1 Kane Williamson NZ 883
2 Travis Head AUS 874
3 Babar Azam PAK 862
4 Steve Smith AUS 855
5 Marnus Labuschagne AUS 849
6 Joe Root ENG 842
7 Usman Khawaja AUS 824
8 Daryl Mitchell NZ 792
9 Dimuth Karunaratne SL 780
10 Rishabh Pant IND 758

ICC Test rankings: Bowlers

1 R Ashwin IND 860
2 Pat Cummins AUS 828
3 Kagiso Rabada SA 825
4 James Anderson ENG 805
5 Shaheen Afridi PAK 787
6 Stuart Broad ENG 781
7 Ollie Robinson ENG 777
8 Nathan Lyon AUS 775
9 Jasprit Bumrah IND 772
10 Ravindra Jadeja IND 765

ICC Test rankings: All-rounders

1 Ravindra Jadeja IND 434
2 Ravichandran Ashwin IND 352
3 Shakib Al Hasan BAN 332
4 Ben Stokes ENG 331
5 Axar Patel IND 310
6 Jason Holder WI 283
7 Joe Root ENG 256
8 Kyle Mayers WI 250
9 Mitchell Starc AUS 245
10 Pat Cummins AUS 229