It wasn’t the best series for batsmen, chiefly the ones from England in the first Test at Lord’s and then for the visiting Pakistanis at Headingley.
In all 1526 runs were scored across the two Tests for the fall of 61 wickets, Pakistan winning the first Test by nine wickets and England paying them back in kind in the second Test, winning by an innings and 55 runs.
That was reflected in the latest MRF Tyres Test Player Rankings, where the biggest gainers among the batsmen were Jos Buttler and Shadab Khan, the England and Pakistan No.7s respectively, who were the only half-centurions in the Headingley Test.
Pakistan’s ordinary batting performance at Headingley meant Azhar Ali dropped four spots to No.15 and Asad Shafiq moved down six spots to 31st. Gaining, meanwhile, were Khan, whose 56 in Leeds helped him go up to No.108, a gain of 22 spots, and Imam-ul-Haq, who scored a 34 in the second innings to get to joint 118 alongside Bangladesh’s Mosaddek Hossain.
On to the bowlers, Yasir Shah, who missed the series with an injury, remains the top-ranked bowler for Pakistan at No.18, with Mohammad Abbas (20th) and Mohammad Amir (32nd) not moving at all. Shadab Khan, however, moved up three spots to 93rd, while Faheem Ashraf, who dropped 38 places in the batting charts, went up 18 positions on the bowling table to joint 98th with Sri Lanka’s Malinda Pushpakumara.
In the team rankings, England lost one point and Pakistan gained one, but their positions at No.5 and No.7 respectively didn't change.
