Three Pakistan bowlers - Hasan Ali, Nauman Ali and Shaheen Afridi - on Wdnesday acheived their career-best ranking in the latest ICC Test Rankings after all three picked their respective five-wicket haul in the recently-concluded second Test against Zimbabwe. Pakistan inflicted an innings defeat to register a 2-0 series sweep.
Fast bowler Hasan Ali (5-27 in the first innings), left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi (5-52 in the second innings) and left-arm spinner Nauman Ali (5-86 in the second innings) played a pivotal role in Pakistan win in Harare by an innings and 147 runs in the second Test. It was the sixth instance in Test history of three bowlers from one side finishing with five-wicket hauls in the same Test, and the first in 28 years. Australia’s Paul Reiffel, Shane Warne and Tim May had last achieved the feat against England at Edgbaston in 1993.
Hasan has moved up six places to the 14th position, Shaheen jumped nine places to the 22nd and Nauman moved from 54th to 46th position. Meanwhile, opener Abid Ali, who scored an unbeaten 215, moved 38 places to 40th among batsmen, while zhar Ali has gained four slots to reach 16th position after scoring 126.
Babar Azam remains the only Pakistan batsman in the top 10 of the Test rankings, but has dropped a spot to the 10oth position.