Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: England take on Pakistan in the upcoming four-Test home series knowing that they are within striking distance of overtaking the opposition in the ICC Test Team Rankings. England, who recently prevailed 2-0 over Sri Lanka in a three-Test home series, are only three points behind Pakistan’s 111 points. This means that margins of 2-1 or 1-0 win will be enough for them to go past Pakistan in the points table, currently led by Australia at 118 points. Either of these results will see England lift to 110 points and Pakistan slip down to 107. If England prevail 2-0 or 3-1, they will tie with second-placed India at 112 points, who are due to take on the West Indies in a four-Test series that ends a week after the England-Pakistan series. In case England are able to capitalise on the home advantage even better, they can rise to second position to 113 points with a 3-0 win and to 114 if they blank Pakistan 4-0.

The small difference in points between India, Pakistan and England throws up a number of interesting scenarios.

A win for Pakistan in the series, by a 2-1 or 3-1 margin, will help them leapfrog India into second place, a position they have reached only once since the officials rankings were launched in 2003. That was in November last year when they beat England 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan even have a chance to surge to the top of the rankings, but to make this happen they will have to win 3-0 or better. Pakistan’s best performance in England has been a 2-0 win in a three-Test series in 1996.

Some of the permutations are:

If England win 2-1 – England 110 and Pakistan 107

If England win 3-1 – England 112 and Pakistan 105

If England win 3-0 – England 113 and Pakistan 103

If England win 4-0 – England 114 and Pakistan 101

If Pakistan win 2-1 – Pakistan 115 and England 106

If Pakistan win 3-1 – Pakistan 117 and England 104

If Pakistan win 3-0 – Pakistan 119 and England 103

If Pakistan win 4-0 – Pakistan 121 and England 102

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, England’s Joe Root will start as the highest-ranked batsman from either side in fourth place. The Yorkshire batsman will be keen to convert his poor run of form, which has seen him drop two places and 52 points following an ordinary series against Sri Lanka. Captain Alastair Cook (12th) and in-form Jonny Bairstow (18th) are the other England batsmen to feature inside the top 20, who along with Ben Stokes (37th) and Moeen Ali (39th) will be aiming to make upward movements. Bairstow has a chance to break into the top 10 if he continues the kind of form he showed in the recent home series against Sri Lanka, in which he aggregated 387 runs including an unbeaten 167 at Lord’s.

Pakistan boasts five batsmen inside the top 20, while opener Mohammad Hafeez is just outside the top 20 in 22nd place. Younus Khan, who in the series against England in the UAE last season had become his country’s first batsman to complete 9,000 Test runs, is the highest-ranked batsman in fifth position. He trails Root by 11 points and will be eyeing a top three finish by the time the series concludes in mid-August at The Oval. Captain Misbah-ul Haq is in 10th position and he is followed by Asad Shafiq (13th), Sarfraz Ahmed (19th) and Azhar Ali (20th).

In the Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, James Anderson is likely to slip from his one-number position after a shoulder injury has sidelined him from the Lord’s Test. As each player is docked one per cent of his points for each Test he misses, Anderson is set to drop behind India’s Ravichandaran Ashwin, whom he leads by six points. England’s third-ranked Stuart Broad will be the highest-ranked bowler going into the first Test. He is followed by Pakistan’s wrist-spinner Yasir Shah, who is still 24 wickets away from attaining the full ranking that comes with 100 Test wickets, but has a good chance of making it to the number one position this season. Other bowlers aiming to improve their rankings include Stokes (26th), Zulfiqar Babar (28th), Moeen Ali (30th), Rahat Ali (35th), Wahab Riaz (38th) and Imran Khan (47th).