Cricket News: Babar Azam - ICC Top Batters in all three formats 

Ricky Ponting and Virat Kohli are the only two batters who have simultaneously achieved this feat of being the number one ranked batter across all three formats. 

After his latest innings of 81 in 146 runs against Sri Lanka in the second test, Babar Azam, for the first time in his 41-match career, moved up the order in ICC Test batting ranks, passing Steve Smith to rank 3. Now he trails the second-ranked Marnus Labuschangne and topper Joe Root. 

His performance and statistics are astonishing across all international formats. In contrast, he has a pretty average of 59.22 in ODIs after playing 87 innings to accumulate 4442 runs, and the batter averages at 47.30 and 45.52 in tests and T20Is.

The batter, in particular, seems to be ruling ODI with 17 tons and 19 half-centuries, whereas he has just 7 in tests and 1 in T20Is. 

Ricky Ponting said, "I saw him up close and personal a couple of years ago out here in a Test series against Australia and I said it then, I thought the sky was the limit for this guy as far as Test match batting (was concerned) and, if anything, he's probably got better and better in the last couple of years."

Saviour of Pakistan batting line-up

Pakistan skipper has been the backbone of Pakistan batting ever since he made it to the spot. From the start of his career, smashing three consecutive hundreds against West Indies, he has been making crucial runs for the team. 

Despite his many heroics, one of the factors that put Pakistan on the back foot in major ICC events is the team's dependence on their skipper, whether it's about anchoring or chasing. If he falls early in any inning, it is very likely that the middle and lower order's fragility is exposed to the opponents' bowlers and becomes their easy victim. 

One of the classic examples can be taken from the recently concluded second test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In their first inning, Sri Lanka created a lead of 378, in response to which Pakistan got bundled out on 231, just because Azam was not there to anchor the team. And when they got a target of 508 after the second innings, only Babar Azam fetched 81. No other batter could stand Sri Lankan bowlers even to score a half-century, leaving him alone to win or lose it, which they eventually lost by a considerable margin. 

"If Babar doesn't have a great tournament, I don't think they can win.", asserted Ricky Ponting.

Follow all of today's Cricket matches on our Live Match Centre